Marianne In Underland
by Remadora
Summary: It's been 40 years since Alice had last been in Underland. She was never given the chance back to Underland and meet up with all her friends. After telling the stories to her granddaughter Marianne, it was her that ended up going to Underland. OC/Hatter
1. Chapter 1

**Author Notes:** This is the first time in a few years that I've been on and writing a story and publishing for the world to see. I've recently gotten into the Alice in Wonderland fandom and I'm a big 'Halice' fan so expect to see some Alice and Hatter one-shots popping up from time to time – but for now, I'm happy to introduce this one and I just hope all the time away from writing hasn't made me rusty and that my original character Marianne doesn't become a Mary-Sue. [Really funny as her nickname is Mary].

I don't own Alice in Wonderland or the movie version this is based on, I just claim ownership of Marianne Kingsleigh who is the granddaughter of Alice Kingsleigh – so I don't even know how I can claim ownership of her after all XD

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><p><em><strong>Chapter One<strong>_

"Hurry up…. Hurry up…" The five year old grew more impatient with anticipation as she bounced on her bed staring at her grandmother who was at the bedroom door. "Grannnnndma." She whined as she clasped her legs to her chest and batted her eyelids. "I want to know more." Marianne Kingsleigh was always this way. Whenever spending the afternoon with her grandmother she would become hyperactive and excited by the stories that she told her.

"Relax, dear, I'm coming." Her grandmother spoke finally making her way and gently sitting beside her on the bed. She pushed stray strands of ebony hair that had fallen out of the child's ribbon behind her ear. It was almost as if she had the same problem with her hair that she had. It never wanted to be restrained apparently. "Which of our friends do you want to hear about today?"

Marianne glanced up at her grandmother studying her kind face. At forty years old she didn't appear like any other grandmother she had seen around in their little city. Her long blonde hair was always shiny and she didn't have any wrinkles. It hadn't come into the little girl's mind to know that this was just because her friend's grandmothers were older than hers.

"Ummm." What a question! How was she supposed to answer that one? Marianne loved every single one of the 'friends' that her grandmother told her about. She loved every character so much she almost believed them to be real. That was just the true magic about stories though. They could come alive when you hear about them. If only she could have dreamt about them. Marianne never seemed to have the blessing her grandmother had. She always told her that they were found in her dreams.

Green eyes of curiosity dashed between one sides of the room to the other as she thought. She was one of those children that wouldn't sit still unless she was given a reason to sit. The stories were a good enough reason for Marianne, but when she couldn't think of which to hear, her mind always began to race – when she imagined the characters – her mind became active once more. Her grandmother knew this look – she placed her hand onto Marianne's hands.

"Well Mary how about I decide and make it a surprise?" This question seemed to be enough for Marianne as she nodded her head frantically as if she was thrilled with the concept. That was something that was different between the two. Her grandmother detested surprises and Marianne seemed to love them. She had noticed a contradiction in this though – if the surprise involved Marianne, like a birthday gift, or any gift of any sort, Marianne had to know instantly. Wasn't that the same with any child though?

Her grandmother sat back on the bed and pulled Marianne close. "I want to hear about the Cheshire cat." Her grandmother gave her a look. Wasn't she supposed to decide for her? Marianne giggled as she moved her hand to her face realising she had decided for her as always. She loved watching her grandmother's nose wrinkle up as she rolled her eyes and nodded her head. Marianne's pulse raced in excitement – these stories entertained her more than the real world.

Marianne enjoyed hearing the stories of the always grinning cat, the Mad Hatter, the March hare, the Dormouse and the two Queens. What she almost loved more than those characters was the champion of Underland – that was the place where the stories took place – the champion was apparently a young blonde woman with unruly hair and kind eyes. The champion was named Alice. Marianne always countered her grandmother when the champion was mentioned.

_"But that's your name!"_

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><p><em><strong>Fifteen years later<strong>_

She wriggled with the fabric of her heavy dress as she walked her way from the top landing to the bottom floor, the footsteps echoing around the stuffy room as Marianne Kingsleigh – now a twenty year old young woman – opened the front door to her grandmother's house as she decided she would go for a read in the park. Her long hair flew behind her like a dress train as she looked around the garden.

"Good morning." She whispered as she walked past a neighbour with her grandmother as they were enjoying a 'spot of tea' in the morning. How her grandmother loved tea. Marianne could vaguely remember the reason why. The more she grew up and the less her grandmother told her of her favourite stories, the less Marianne remembered. Yet, she still remembered enough to know she loved the stories.

"Now Mary, don't forget you have your lesson today." Marianne stopped dead. She was so hoping that trip to the art gallery would have been forgotten. She didn't like the educational visits to somewhere that would almost feel like hard work. The girl loved learning things when it seeped naturally into her brain – not when it hard to be forced. Marianne turned to face her grandmother. She smiled slightly as she glanced at the neighbour.

"I was hoping that would be off." The neighbour who was casting disapproving eyes on Marianne for speaking back to her grandmother was none more than Mrs Krevoy. She was as thin as a rake and her clothes almost seemed as if she made a wrong move they would slip off of her. She was much younger than her grandmother but she always took time to ensure her grandmother had company – which Marianne guessed – in a way – was nice. "Do I have to?" She knew from the way her grandmother looked at her, that yes, this trip to the museum appeared to be something she couldn't ignore.

Marianne was one of the lucky girls around this area of England. Where all the other young women of her age were being carted off to find rich husbands, forced into corsets and stockings, and became bland, thoughtless girls who did only what their newly found husbands asked. Marianne was being taught to think her own mind, read and write – to become educated – so that one day she could find a job for herself, or become part of the family business her father took over from her grandmother after her grandfather died. This was mostly why Marianne lived with her grandmother.

Her mother died giving birth to Marianne after a complication. Her father being the man he was; dull and boring as Marianne would say; always spent time away in China or America with the trading company to find new deals and – as he would put it – keep a roof over the family's head. Edward Kingsleigh-James was one of the men who knew his position in life and would do anything to keep it there. He was frown upon more for leaving his daughter to be raised by his own mother, but he was doing his best to keep his face known on the upper level of this Victorian society.

"Why can't you come with me, it would be good for you to leave the house." Marianne spoke, although her grandmother left the house frequently – she might have been sixty but Alice Kingsleigh never would let herself grow old without fighting against it. She was always strong and thought for herself, which was why when she got married to a man she met aboard a ship to America when she was dealing for the business she kept her own surname and hyphenated with his. This was out of respect to her father who she honoured and loved as much as Marianne loved her.

Marianne never expected her grandmother to be the type of woman to have married. She was thankful – for if she hadn't then it would have been very unlikely that Marianne herself would be standing here breathing. When her grandmother told her just to go and get ready for her lesson, she had no choice but to listen. What was so important about this art gallery – she must have been there half a dozen times a year since it opened. Her grandmother taught her the beauty of art. She explained how sometimes even when you have the ugliest of paintings before you if you look at it hard enough, you'll see the beauty inside.

"Yes, grandmother."


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter Two**_

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><p>Her body jolted forward when she woke up with a crash.<p>

"Just a hole in the road, Miss." The driver of the carriage informed her as she was looking around in a daze from been woken up her sleep. She fell asleep? She slept for hours the night before. The reason she was looking around in a daze wasn't for the abrupt end of her dream though. It was for the dream she had been having. She had been dreaming of land plentiful with trees and flowers – although the flowers, as well as mushrooms, were as large as the trees in the neighbouring woods she found herself walking through too.

She found herself face to face with a grinning cat in a tree who talked nonsense, or what seemed nonsense to her. Her mind was aloof with the image of that cat almost burnt on her brain. She just couldn't get its large bright green eyes out of her mind. "The Cheshire cat?" she found herself whispering as she looked down at her hands. "What…" She was unsure why she was dreaming of the land her grandmother told her about when she was a child. It took fifteen years for those stories to finally catch up to her?

"We're nearly there." She was informed by the driver who was taking her to the gallery. She definitely didn't want to head there now. Marianne wanted to head home and tell her grandmother of her dream. She knew the characters better than she did – she would be able to tell her why she would be dreaming of the cat. Running her fingers through the tips of her almost waist length hair, she twisted the coil around her finger and sighed. Nonsense, perhaps that was just what the dream was, complete and utter nonsense. She pushed some of the curtain hiding the view from the carriage and looked outside – the light hurt her eyes slightly, but that soon passed.

Marianne only wondered as to why her grandmother wouldn't come with her. She was usually very happy to come and look at the paintings in the gallery. It was something they did together, a family activity. Marianne knew that she had arranged this visit especially, for there was some new exhibit, but she would have expected that to have raised her grandmother's curiosity. That appeared not to be true. What was it with her today? Marianne felt like something was going to happen and wasn't sure yet if she was going to like or hate it.

The driver, who had been the driver for her family for as long as Marianne could remember opened the door for her and Marianne existed the carriage, her hands fumbling with the over coat that was on her dress. She sighed and looked down at it. Once she had gotten inside the gallery she was bound to sweat, that was the last thing she wanted. Marianne undid the jacket and threw it carelessly back into the carriage, much to James – the driver's – displease. Apparently to throw a jacket wasn't good for the look of society.

"I'll be waiting out here for your return." Marianne nodded as she made her way to the gallery her long fashionable yellow dress almost glistened in the sunlight. She was amazed that he wasn't going to be coming with her and keeping a close eye on her – to report back to her grandmother for every little thing she had done wrong. Marianne knew her grandmother wasn't like that though deep down – just on the upper level of her mind, Marianne thought her life was of being a thorn in her grandmother's side.

Marianne was lead down the gallery as her eyes found a countless amount of pictures and sculptures that she couldn't care less for, none of them sparked her attention. She had such a big mind and imagination that it took a lot to make her stop and stare with a 'wow' impression in head. She was informed that the exhibit was around the corner and her tour guide would leave her to go on by herself. She nodded her head, she knew this gallery almost like the back of her hand – she wouldn't get lost.

Well this was certainly interesting. She sighed in her head with a tint of sarcasm lacing her thoughts. It was nothing new. She had seen this type of artwork before. She had seen the colours, the buildings, the impressionists. She didn't know why her grandmother sent her here. It was nothing that would have given her chills. Well at least now she knew why she never accompanied her. Marianne walked further across until something did catch her attention.

Her reflection.

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><p><em><strong>The Mirror<strong>_

It was a large mirror, as if it was added on the wall for extra decoration. For the people who passed by to stop and look at themselves and wonder why they were let out of the house looking the way they did. Or, perhaps that was just the way Marianne thought when she looked at herself. Her long thick hair just lying there dull and lifeless, even though she had spent hours on it, to make it look like it was perfect. Her eyes didn't give away much impression to her emotions inside – her skin was pale almost pasty, but perhaps that was the lightening in the gallery, or because the yellow in the dress washed her out.

Both Marianne and her grandmother had told her father that the colour wouldn't work on her! Why didn't he listen to her and bring her back something in a colour she was known to wear a lot? It wasn't like him not to pay attention to them. Oh wait. It was. Marianne studied the mirror. It was also shimmering like her dress, but in a golden colour. Was this part of the exhibition or was it added decoration like she had first thought. She wasn't sure.

The more she focused on the mirror, the more she got bored. It just gave her an air of vanity. Or so she suspected, to the millions of 'drones' walking around past her. They would all look at her, staring into her reflection, and cast their own judgement and she was sure that judgement would find its way back to her grandmother. Marianne shook that thought out of her head as she went to walk away from the mirror before remembering her grandmother's advice with things she didn't understand – or find fascinating - in the gallery.

To look at things with a hint of imagination.

Marianne stopped and turned back to the mirror and looked inside. This was useless! All she saw was the same poor fool looking back at her sorry for herself! She sighed, closing her eyes and shaking her head. Why she was the granddaughter of Alice Kingsleigh. She was supposed to have the same fiery spirit, the same imagination, the same outlook on life that was discarded by the aristocrats. It appeared Marianne wasn't worthy of being her granddaughter.

She opened her eyes and to her surprise the world around her reflection had changed. It was no longer the drab dull room of the gallery. She shook her head. Her eyes were playing a trick on her. She turned around to look at the room around her – yes it was still drab and dull – but all the people that were here moments ago had appeared to disappear. She glanced back at the mirror expecting things to be back to normal – but no – there it was again.

Staring back at her was herself – but she wasn't wearing the yellow dress, it was a brighter shade of green – it certainly looked better on her than her own. The colour in her skin made her look at least if she was alive. She was surrounded by shrubbery. Giant shrubbery, it was bright and colourful – and it was. What was that! She asked herself as her head turned to look at the shrubbery moving behind her reflection, she was more than sure she saw something move, it was white… a rabbit?

The reflection version of herself had moved her hand out. Wait, weren't reflections simply a mirror images, she was supposed to be looking at herself exactly the same way as she was looking back – something about this wasn't right, was she hallucinating? Marianne was curious, why would she be offering herself her hand. The woman moved her hand towards the mirror, looking back at herself as she wondered what she was doing. She was certainly mad… crazy… she was just as the people called her grandmother.

"Wait." She spoke before it was too late for the reflection of herself had grabbed her hand. How was that even possible!


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter Three**_

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><p>When she woke up her first thought was that it was very cold. She was more than certain that that was odd for the museum. She rubbed her eyes that were still begging to close once more but shook her head and started to push herself up. Suddenly she realised, she wasn't in the museum anymore. This was not possible – she was lying in that garden that she saw in the mirror.<p>

"Okay now I'm confused." She told herself as she pushed her way from the ground to stand up. She was cold because she was standing in the shade of some big tree. Except… on second glance it wasn't a tree. It was a mushroom. The shrubbery she had thought she had seen in the mirror was actually lots and lots and lots… of mushrooms? "How did I get here?"

All thought of her reflection pulling her through from one world into the other seemed to pass from her mind as she moved to brush down her now dirty dress. She had to take a second look. How could this be? The dress she was wearing – the yellow one she was convinced washed out her skin tone – it was… it was green!

She recalled something. Was there a rabbit? Marianne was sure she had seen a rabbit in the mirror before she passed out and ended up here. Perhaps she had sleepwalked into a garden somewhere? Possible – but impossible if she were to believe a giant mushroom garden! Unless she had somewhat shrunk to a tiny size…. Marianne laughed to herself – now that was impossible. That only happened in her grandmother's stories.

"How do I get out of here?" She asked herself, not that she was expecting a reply. She wasn't crazy enough to answer herself. Marianne sighed heavily. "No idea." Or. Maybe she was. She blew her hair from her face. Her hair was covered in leaves, how could her hair be covered in leaves – she had just come to terms with the fact this was a mushroom garden! This place didn't make much sense, and she didn't enjoy that fact.

How come she hadn't seen anyone else here – was this… wherever she was… inhabitable? She had no idea. She just knew she wanted to get home now. As much as it shocked her to say that she wanted to go back to that stuffy dreary house when she was in such a bright and airy environment. She started to walk through the garden on a path that she was sure she never saw the first time she looked.

The more she walked, the more Marianne wondered why it didn't seem like she was getting anywhere. Then the more she realised that, the more frustrated she got. "Oh come on!" She screamed in a huff as she clenched her fist. It was just like she was walking around in circles. "This is hopeless." She dropped to the ground sitting down looking around. She had decided maybe if she stayed there that someone or something would find her instead of the other way around.

Five minutes past…. Ten minutes past… An hour past – or so Marianne's judgement told her. She had sat there, still, fingers playing with the ruined ends of her dress as she sighed. This wasn't working either. She knew that if she wanted to find someone to help her get out of here that she would need to get up and do something about it and not sit around after giving up. She wasn't a quitter. She wasn't raised to become a quitter. The _'Champion of Underworld' _raised her for goodness sake!

Finally, she decided to get up and make her way through the rest of the garden. It appeared that when she decided to take control of things and make her own judgement the world around her started to… make sense with her and let her get through this almost maze of a garden. Marianne was so confused right now that she didn't even comprehend this fact – all she knew was all this walking was hurting her feet. This was possibly because of the very tight pair of heeled shoes on her feet. Damn her father for trying to keep her up with all the latest fashions.

Her hand brushed against the trunk of one of the mushrooms. Her eyes looked at it wondering if it would still be considered a trunk or if it was simply a base. Marianne was very good at pointless questions like that. She asked herself at least fifty pointless questions a day. She sighed wondering why she was putting more time into trying to answer pointless questions instead of getting herself home. The more time she spent here, the more she realised that it was all beginning to seem… familiar.

Mushroom gardens…

Just where had she heard that before? Was it something to do with the cat she had been dreaming of before? She knew she didn't remember all of the stories her grandmother told and that that dream had reawakened some of the memories – had mushroom gardens been part of that adventure her grandmother was so adamant she had had? Marianne wasn't one to dismiss the fact her grandmother believed such a thing – she was a dreamer and imaginer herself. She just… it was hard to understand something without seeing it with her own eyes.

Only now… it was possible she was seeing it with her own eyes – and she was finding it hard to believe it still. If only her grandmother was here to tell her what she was seeing wasn't a dream. Wasn't a mirage… wasn't fake… she just needed to hear someone tell her this world was actually real.

"Nothing is making sense." She sulked as she then noticed her surroundings had changed. Was she too much in thought to even notice such a thing? She was no longer in the mushroom gardens. She was in a wood forest with lots of trees. "Now just how did that happen?" She asked herself shaking her head and moving a hand to her temple. This was getting too much – if this was the world that her grandmother had been a part of, how did the mere sight of it not send her mad? Marianne knew that things around this world wasn't as they seemed – and she guessed it was a 'normal' thing… if normal was a word that existed in… what did her grandmother call it?

Wonderland.

"Well if it isn't a new face." That wasn't her voice. Marianne spun around looking for the owner of the cool and collected voice that she had heard. Her long black hair swung over her shoulder as she couldn't find anyone. This was just great – now it seemed she was hearing things. "That is something we don't see a lot of around here." Marianne sighed, she was still hearing it. Hearing things… that's all she needed. She turned around and jumped back as she came face to face with a cat. Only… only she was face to face with a cat's head – there was no body. This cat was also grinning right at her. A cat with no body… it was only upon second glance that she realised she recognised this cat from the one in her dreams.

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><p><em><strong>The Cheshire Chat<strong>_

Marianne kept her eyes set on the floating cat head in front of her. Soon it wasn't a cat head any more. As it circled her, it appeared to grow a body, legs and tail. A tail that wrapped itself around her arm as it started to pull her in a direction. She pulled herself away. She wasn't going to follow a strange cat. Then again… it wasn't strange… was it? If she had been dreaming of it?

"Something pulled your tail, love?" She gave him a curious look – what an odd thing to ask. She didn't have a tail. Then she realised, that was just a saying the cat used. They appeared to have sayings for things here like they did back home – this was probably like the way they would say 'something got your goat.' Marianne shook her head as she took another step away from the cat.

"You're… you're the Cheshire cat, aren't you." She asked as she tilted her head watching as the cat was soon nearly face to face with her again, it's body higher than its head. It was hard to make this cat out… what was it that her grandmother called the cat. "Chessur." Before she had even thought of the name it came out of her lips as she looked dazed with herself. That was curious.

Marianne just hoped the cat wouldn't be too shocked with the fact that she knew who he was. It seemed nothing would have phased this animal though. He gave her a smug looking grin and wrapped his tail around her arm once more and started pulling her along the dark woods. This was another thing that shocked her – it was daylight not long ago and now it was as dark as night.

"Wait." She called. Marianne was shocked at the fact this cat didn't ask questions. Why wasn't he curious of why she was there? "Aren't you even going to ask me how I knew that?" She seemed to be rounding off unanswered questions. "Or who I am?" Her hand moved to the tail, only it didn't seem to budge. "Or even ask how I got here?" Not that Marianne would have been able to answer that. The cat turned its large green eyes staring into her own.

_"And why would I need you to answer any of those questions? I knew you were coming after all."_


	4. Chapter 4

**_Author Note:_**

Would like to take a moment to say that I know my chapters are pretty short, but I assure you they will get longer when I get further on the story.  
>Also I would also like to take a moment and say thank you to <strong>James Birdsong<strong> for reviewing. That really made my day - also it was my birthday that I got your review, so it made my birthday too :)

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><p><em><strong>Chapter Four<strong>_

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><p>Well hadn't this gotten perfect – just so very perfect. She had first found herself talking to a cat, and now that cat had vanished in thin air leaving her to find the way to where he was going to take her by herself. He had disappeared whilst muttering something about her taking too long. Marianne couldn't help it – no really, she couldn't, she was finding it too enjoyable to drag her feet and looking at her surroundings.<p>

This was especially true when she found herself at a flower bed with one single flower. It was strange because she was in what seemed to be woods – and the flower looked so out of place. How could she not stop and look at the flower. It looked – like her – out of place in this world. She soon found though, the flower wasn't out of place – because of the fact when she poked its petal – the flower scowled at her.

_"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"_

The words of her apology still rang in her head as she remembered apologising so profusely at the flower who wasn't too pleased at being touched and prodded by someone it never knew. She had never seen a flower with a face before – that whole aspect was new to her. A lot of aspects she had found here in this… world... were completely new to her. She wondered to herself, now just where that cat could have gotten to.

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><p>The Cheshire Cat however had disappeared from her and appeared sitting at the Mad Hatter's table. He was once again looking upon the Hatter's hat with such an interest it wouldn't be a complete shock to any of the ones partying at the table if he would try and swipe the thing again. The cat couldn't help but try and take the 'sweet hat' that he loved so much.<p>

Whilst the Hatter's attention seemed to be dull and drab as always the cat disappeared from the end of the table and appeared before the Hatter with his paws extended to grasp the hat from upon the Hatter's head. The Hatter had turned his head just in time and his eyes flurried with a hint of yellow as he cautioned Chessur and pulled the hat away from the cat's grasp.

"We have a visitor" Spoke the cat, so calmly as if it was matter of fact and that the Hatter should have known this already. "We do a visitor from the Uplands." He spoke, not giving the Hatter a name – not saying it was Alice. Not saying it wasn't. This seemed to affect the Hatter in a way that neither the cat, nor the dormouse or the March Hare for that matter had seen in quite some time.

The Hatter's appearance which, as described was dull and drab appeared to change in brightness and contrast. He couldn't help the grin that appeared on his face as he moved up from his seat for a better look around the area. He couldn't see a visitor. The cat could have guessed instantly that the Hatter didn't believe him.

"Surely for that… I should get that hat." He purred, continuing his long battle with the Hatter to get the hat that had almost always been present on his head since the day he picked it up from the burning remainder of his village. The look he received from the Hatter was enough for the cat to know when to leave it. He didn't need to get the blame for that day again – although – as the cat always said – it wasn't his fault.

"Get lost ye bloody cat." The hatter appeared as mad as his name, that Scottish tint to his voice. It seemed he had gotten his hopes up on the fact that perhaps Alice had returned. There was no need for the cat to tell him who it was exactly that had made the journey to Underland – after all he would find out soon enough. The cat could tell that he didn't believe him simply because the girl wasn't here yet.

He left her because waiting for her to catch up with him was becoming a tiring thing. She always seemed to be touching or asking about things. His patience wasn't good for that sort of thing. He just wanted to get the girl to the Hatter and then leave – maybe if he was lucky – he would leave with that hat. He went through a lot already to get her through the mirror and to Underland.

It almost seemed as if she didn't know of the world after all. That indeed was a pity. She would be new to everything that was around her. This girl would try a lot of people's patience by asking a lot of questions. She wouldn't know any better. Chessur could tell that this girl was going to be a lot like Alice when she had first come back to Underland having forgotten all about the world and adventures she had already had had as a child.

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><p>Finally, she was out of those woods. Marianne never thought that was ever going to happen! She just kept looking around for a way out and it didn't seem to come. When she stopped caring to find the way out, that was where the gap of the trees appeared and she had found a little road. She followed the road, because she had nowhere else to go – and hoped that by doing so she might find herself face to face with that grinning feline again.<p>

"Just, where are you now?" Marianne spoke aloud. She did not care for the fact that speaking to oneself was considered mad anymore. She would see herself as crazy for dreaming up such a world – especially when she didn't find she normally remembered her dreams – especially any dreams she might have had about this world. She couldn't remember any at all apart from that one with the cat this morning.

Was it still that morning that she had had that dream? She felt like she had been gone for hours – it could have been days since she had been in that carriage when she had fallen asleep. Keeping down that road, she found that coming closer there was a large table. More than one table, drawn together with a large tablecloth – she was mistaken to think it was one table. She was so confused – why would someone be holding a tea party outside?

Then again, why be confused at a world where nothing made sense?

Marianne shook her head. She recalled the story once more. There was an on-going, never stopping tea-party. Attending that tea-party was always the March Hare, the Dormouse and the Mad Hatter. She remembered how her grandmother said that she always enjoyed a spot of tea there with them. They were three of her favourite people that lived in Underland. Marianne never understood that – how could a mouse and a hare be considered people in her grandmother's mind?

As she scanned the characters sitting at the table… there was the dormouse, climbing sleepily out of a teapot, dropping itself onto the end of a teaspoon, which caused a sugar cube to go flying through the air and hit the hare in the face. The hare that appeared to have been daydreaming was caught off guard and a teacup went flying – and just near missed Marianne who was still walking closer. Then there were two more characters.

A man, with bright orange hair that appeared to go off in all directions, pale skin and he wore a top hat. The top hat alone gave her the conclusion that he was the Mad Hatter that her grandmother had told her all about. She had never really let her imagination decide just what they all could have looked like – so all this, seeing with her own eyes, was new to her. She didn't take a lot of time to look at what he was wearing, or his attitude, because once her eyes spotted the Cheshire cat, she found a new fire in her stomach that she hadn't felt before and with a louder voice than she could have mustered normally around new people she let out:

"How could you just leave me there?"


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note

Thank you to **James Birdsong** and** AccioVoldemortsNose** for reviewing the last chapter. Also, a massive, thank you to those who added my fan-fiction to their favorite list or watched for new chapters. All of that means a lot to me and gives me the enthusiasm to continue and write new chapters. Please, when reading this, keep in mind this is my first time trying to write as the Mad Hatter and well, it took me a while to try and get into his mind - he has so much going on in there you know!

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><p><em><strong>Chapter Five<strong>_

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><p>So the cat hadn't lied to him? There was actually a visitor here from the uplands. The Hatter rose from his seat excitedly for he had half expected the visitor to have been Alice. His Alice – though was she really considered his Alice? She had been gone such a long time. Too long, he had already offended time so many times now. Only the other day – wait… he was getting side tracked again. He ran his way over and if this woman was Alice he would have hugged her close and spun her around.<p>

He was rather disappointed though as he stared at the girl in front of him. His appearance became rather dull again as he looked at her. This wasn't Alice. There was no way that this dark haired lass was Alice. He knew Alice. He'd know him anywhere! There was no way this wee boy was Alice. Girl – girl – he often got himself confused when his emotions were quite raw and to the surface. He found himself to get rather annoyed at this not Alice getting his hopes up.

The glimmer in his eyes that changed from green to yellow had come back again.

"Who are you?" He asked calmly. Though to him it did not matter – this wasn't Alice. There was no way that this was Alice – yet there was something there. Something in the way she looked – a resemblance. There was also something in her muchness – yes her muchness was more or less dead, but there was something – something there – in her eyes, her nice green eyes, and green like his. He liked the colour green. He became distracted once again in his own mind. What was he saying? Muchness. Yes – there was something in this Not Alice's muchness that reminded him of their champion.

Perhaps this not Alice and his Alice were related? That must have been it. There was a spark there, a tiny little existence of a spark – not much of a spark – but a spark nonetheless. He could tell that she must have at least known his Alice. The Hatter hadn't waited to catch her name. He grabbed hold of her around the wrist, not caring much for personal space, and started to drag her along to the table.

"Come, come. You must join us for some tea." The Hatter spoke as he continued to pull her. Once he was at the table, he made sure that she was sitting right next to him at the top of the table and started to pour some tea into a cracking teacup for her. Thankfully he had not poured Mally out of the teapot and into the cup – now that just might have scared the poor lass. Although this thought had passed his mind, he had not noticed that Mally had already moved out of the teapot earlier – his mind was just too crowded with excitement now that they had a new acquaintance for tea. "Now, what did you say your name was?"

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><p>"I hadn't." Marianne spoke as she scanned the table and the many creatures sharing tea. This was one odd tea party that was for sure. She could understand though – just why her grandmother said she would enjoy it if she ever found herself at one of them. The dormouse was thrusting what seemed to be a pin at her. She didn't seem to like her very much, she had no idea why, but something told her that it was female. "Marianne…" she trailed off. Without a second thought another sentence past her lips. "Just like Mary Ann, the rabbit's housemaid." Marianne blinked, shaking her head. "Now how did I know that?"<p>

She asked herself as she moved her hand through her silk locks. She remembered her grandmother's stories – but she couldn't say that she remembered ever being told that the white rabbit had had a housemaid. Nor that that housemaid had the same name as her. She felt really odd – it must have been this world. Yes, that had to be it. When she was here, she must have started becoming one with it – just like her grandmother had said she almost felt like she was when she was in her Wonderland. As if when she wanted something or wondered something she would eventually get the answer she looked for.

It was true she was becoming more and more confused by the minute. She wondered though – would the March hare still be considered as mad as Alice had said it was – seeing as it was but February and not the month after. The hare was twitching though and his ears were pulled down as if he was trying to stop himself for hearing something. The dormouse spoke. Marianne didn't know dormice could speak – but this was Underland, and she had already encountered a talking cat.

"You're not Alice! That stupid rabbit McTwisp brought us the wrong Alice again!" So… that was it. Marianne started to understand. This party was on going, or so it seemed, because the trio (and the cat) were waiting for her grandmother to return to the world and become their champion once more? This was all what she thought to be the case anyway. She wouldn't know. Marianne glanced towards the Hatter before back to the dormouse as she repeated her grandmother's name. "Yes." The dormouse continued. "Alice. You're not Alice! We were waiting for her!"

"Well I'm afraid you'll be waiting an awfully long time for that." Marianne spoke, not thinking. She had already guessed that they must have been waiting a long time giving they must have known her grandmother when she was in her early twenties perhaps? "She can barely climb the stairs let alone climb down a rabbit hole." She had no idea why she had said rabbit hole when she herself came through a mirror. This was perhaps because all the stories that she had heard had started with her Grandmother going down a rabbit hole.

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><p>The Hatter listened to what she had to say, getting a little confused over the fact apparently Alice couldn't walk down a simple set of stairs. He questioned her – asking if Alice was hurt. Dear, that would not have been good – not good at all – he could not bear if he was to hear that Alice had done herself some injury. If she had perhaps broken her leg, her good legs – legs made for walking. He shook his head, listened:<p>

"No, my grandmother's not as young as she once was. She's nearly seventy." Seventy! Seventy… had he offended time so badly that he had frozen the Hatter and his friends for over forty years? He would so have to have a word with time. Alice was an old woman now – she would have grown old, her skin would have wrinkled – she had such nice skin – but her eyes. At least hopefully her blue eyes that held that spark – the same spark he had noticed previously in Marianne's eyes – wouldn't have gone out.

Then again it could have gone out for all he knew – for what he knew – he hadn't seen her in so long. Maybe she had forgotten him – no she would never have done that – she said so, the day she left – he could remember her words, forming in her soft voice. "Of course I will, how could I forget?" His eyes cast downwards as suddenly in his head all he could hear echoed was Alice's voice. He couldn't help it. He got emotional. What if she had forgotten him?

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><p>"She never forgot." Marianne spoke. She looked around the table at the characters. Each of them had their own emotion apparently for the change that had happened in their champion. For some reason she was surprised that they believed her when she said that she was her granddaughter – for all they knew she could have been a liar. "She told me stories growing up. She did, she told me stories of her adventures here in Wonderland." The dormouse corrected her. Marianne hated being corrected, but she let it slip – she didn't want to be jabbed by that pin that the dormouse still grasped so fondly in her paw. "Sorry, Underland."<p>

Marianne took a sip of the warm tea in front of her as she noticed that the hare was pouring the dormouse some more tea by thrusting the teapot forward and the tea souring in the air. Well that was… new. She guessed. "Could I have some sugar?" She asked, looking towards the hare that had the sugar cubes beside him. She soon wished she hadn't asked though. The dormouse didn't even warn her – before she knew it, a teacup was sent hurling at her, and although it merely missed it, it crashed into the back of her chair.

She raced to her feet before the tea that was in that cup could do any damage to the dress. She was so sure that because it was such a splendid shade of green that the colour would have ran and Marianne certainly didn't want her stockings to turn green, nor did she want her hair sticky with tea if she had kept sitting there. "Sorry I asked." She spoke, taking the seat next to the one she had been sitting on.

The Hatter seemed lost in thought. The dormouse seemed tired. The hare was going back to staring into his spoon and correcting his forks and knives to make sure they were aligned perfectly. They were a mad bunch – that was for sure. No wonder the Hatter had such a nickname like the Mad Hatter. Marianne looked around – she could go and try to get home, she supposed, but she definitely wouldn't have known the way.

"We must get you to the White Queen." Finally the Hatter had spoken. Marianne turned her attention to him. He was standing up and adjusting the hat upon his head. It seemed so scorched – then she remembered, the reason why it was like that. She recalled how her grandmother had told her about the Jabberwocky and what it had done to the Hatter's clan. Marianne always thought that story was the worst of all the ones she had heard. It always seemed so vivid, even though her grandmother assured her she wasn't there at the time.

Marianne nodded in response. She guessed of all the people in Underland that the queen would be the best person for her to address in getting home. "After all." She heard the Hatter speak. "She would be thrilled to seeing that we have a new champion." Marianne arched her eyebrow – come again? "We were awaiting Alice to come and slay the new beast." Wait… slay? "Come along." Marianne didn't move. She calculated all this in her mind. Champion – Slay – Beast. What was she supposed to be slaying? Her stomach churned as she recalled her grandmother had said she slayed the Jabberwocky.

"T-The… Jabberwocky?" The words came out of her lips as she looked back to the Hatter. "I… I." She emphasised on the fact she meant herself. "I have to slay the Jabberwocky." The Hatter gave a laugh – he had such a laugh, she had never heard a laugh like that before.

"Don't be silly, you can't slay something that's already dead." Don't be silly? She would most have certainly had said the one to be silly around here was the Hatter himself – or his companions. Marianne looked to her hands, why was she trembling? Her eyes met the Hatter's. His green eyes were much brighter than hers – almost as bright as her dress. She guessed her eyes must look soulless to look into. If it wasn't the Jabberwocky that she was here to slay… then… _just… just what was she sent here to do?_


	6. Chapter 6

_****_Author's Note

Thank you to AccioVoldemortsNose for the review on the last chapter. Also thank you once more for those who added my fan-fiction to their favourites or alerts. It means a lot to me.

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><p><em><strong>Chapter Six<strong>_

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><p>To say Marianne was confused would be such an understatement. She wasn't sure what was reality or what a dream was anymore. This was awkward due to the fact she didn't usually dream of this world – in fact – she never usually remembered any dreams. They were walking through some woods – apparently on their way to this queen. This White Queen who would be greeting her as a champion… expecting her to slay some beast to which no one would tell her about.<p>

"I…" what was more awkward than her situation, was the conversation. She had no idea what to say to this man. He was just far past her expectations. He was madder than she had expected from the stories – sure she knew that he was mad, but nothing like this. He was mad in the sense of – you could look at him and he could appear to be in a completely different emotion or frame of mind than the last time you looked at him.

His eyes met her – he was expecting her to say something now. Damn, what was she to do? All Marianne did was watch the dormouse on his hat enjoying the ride. She seemed to be quite the adventurer. Mally… she thought she caught the name of the mouse. Mally also seemed to be quite protective of the Hatter, she didn't seem to like the idea of Marianne being this close.

She didn't want to be this close you know. She defended herself in thought about the dormouse. She just didn't want to lose her way or be ditched the same way the Cheshire cat had done to her when she first encountered him in this world. "Oh… nothing." She finally spoke in reply to her earlier hesitant 'I'. Marianne's mind was just racing through so many different scenarios and thinking of so many different things. How was she supposed to slay something? What if she didn't reach the queen's expectations? She wasn't Alice… she wasn't her grandmother.

Something about this world made her want to call her grandmother by her first name – she wasn't sure why. All she was sure about was that the fact of that itself was so annoying. She recalled the Hatter would ask her questions on their journey of her grandmother (there she had managed to think of her as her grandmother and not just Alice) and how she was doing. What her life ended up being like – and if there were any reason as to why she never found her way back to Underland. A lot of these questions she couldn't find the answers for herself – Alice kept a lot of her secrets to herself (there she went again, Alice) and Marianne could understand why.

"She married." Her eyes hit the Hatter who seemed to dull in appearance once more at the idea of her grandmother getting married. "She met my grandfather on business. She said that he reminded her of someone." Marianne was beginning to realise who her grandfather had reminded her grandmother of. "He was funny – the joker, but still held himself quite serious when needed." She explained. She had fond memories of her grandfather. "He was Scottish and had just relocated in London for the trading company she was a partner of." It was quite funny how Scotland played such a big part in her family history.

When her father met her mother they were both in Scotland – and Marianne had found a hint of Scots in the way that the Hatter spoke too. "He had green eyes, you know, skipped a generation – that's how I have them." She spoke – her father got a rather strange shade of brown. Her mother had these blue eyes, apparently – just like Alice's. Marianne had only ever seen a painting of her mother. She held a small drawing of her mother in a locket that her father had drawn – she was seven when she stole the drawing from her father's chest-of-drawers – it was almost like a painting itself. He was such a creative man when it came to the arts.

Shame he could never understand this world that Marianne was seeing with her own two eyes.

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><p>The news that his Alice… his Alice (there he went again, even though he wasn't sure if she was still considered his Alice or was ever considered his Alice)… had gone off and gotten married back in her own world. It split him into two with how he felt about that. Part of the Hatter was disappointed, really quite upset. She had promised she would return to him. Then the other part, that was fighting against his disappointment and even perhaps a little bit of jealously, was happy – happy that she had met someone that she fell in love with and could be happy with. If she was happy – then he could be happy… right? He didn't know – he had never felt so conflicted before – and given how he usually was – that was hard to believe.<p>

The Hatter shook his head, almost forgotten Mally was on top of his hat, who told him to be careful. He wanted to know more about this man – but there was also a part of him that wanted to know more about Marianne. Alice's apparent granddaughter – that would explain for her muchness and spark. Both that were merely there, but he could tell – even just a little – that they were somehow a lot like Alice's. He would have to help her find her muchness. That was, if she couldn't do that by herself.

He continued to take the newcomer towards the queen's castle. He wasn't much for thinking on serious matters, his mind became easily distracted. But with the news that she was related to Alice and of what Alice had been doing since she left him he couldn't help but think. He knew he wanted to know more and couldn't shake the prospect of Alice being older than the young lass that left him.

"This way." The Hatter spoke. His voice was clear, even though his emotions were all over the place. He wasn't good at hiding his emotions as they were so raw though – this meant that he could burst into tears, or anger, at any moment and he didn't like that fact. He didn't know this Marianne. He didn't want to scare her away, or make her uncomfortable – or both… could it possible to be both scared and uncomfortable? He guessed so – there had to be.

After all nothing was ever completely impossible. He knew that better than anyone and would definitely tell people so – that way they would do what Alice had done and be themselves, be better than themselves and become a better version of themselves in doing so. Alice did – Alice became so fine, beautiful, a beautiful person, beautiful in looks – like her granddaughter – obviously looks ran in her family – wait… now his mind was trailing away from him. He started off thinking of how things could be impossible and now he was thinking of how this Marianne was beautiful.

Beauty was only skin deep, he told himself, he didn't know what she would be like in personality – he had known her merely ten minutes. Everyone was beautiful in their own way – no one was as beautiful as the queen – ah, the queen, that's where his mind should be. He was taking their new champion to the queen! He really had to stop getting distracted. Easier said than done, of course, especially concerning him.

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><p>Marianne made her way following this crazy unhinged seeming man. She kept her green eyes on her surroundings as she found herself almost mesmerised by her new environment. She just couldn't seem to help herself. This world was so pretty in a lot of ways. Whether the woods seemed singed, she could see parts of the world coming up where it seemed bright and airy – she couldn't wait to get there. She guessed, given the fact the queen was considered the White Queen, that the bright and airy 'kingdom' was her one. Marianne was now getting pretty excited as well as nervous.<p>

She was going to meet a queen after all! She had never met a queen before!

"Hatter…" she spoke, wondering if she reminded him of her grandmother. "How do I… I mean… I've never met a queen before, do I have to curtsey, bow…" She felt so stupid asking these questions and the silly goofy grin she was receiving from him was unnerving. He told her to relax, and then said some random words that she really couldn't make heads or tails of and continued walking with her. That really didn't make things any easier!

Mally answered her: "You bow, of course, a sign of respect." Was she seriously to take advice from a dormouse? She had no idea, yet this dormouse knew more about what she was about to take part in than anyone, she guessed – definitely more than her. Or maybe Mally didn't like her and wanted to make a fool of her, oh why was Marianne being so judgemental? She was such a small creature and couldn't do that much harm – honestly… right? She hoped she was right.

"Oh… oh of course." She nodded her head. She was just so confused and the scenarios were new to her. She would trust Mally – this time – and see how the queen would react to her bowing. She would curtsey… that could be considered the same thing to be performed by a woman though – she guessed, in a way. Unless everything was… taken the other way than normally taken – like yes meant no or something so that bowing would be disrespectful – oh no that would be silly!

She was just getting herself worked up for nothing. If her grandmother had been here so many times and had made so many friends, gotten along with everyone and even managed to become the champion that they want Marianne to become… it shouldn't be that difficult. After all, she was her granddaughter and the strength of Alice couldn't be the apple that dropped far from the tree… right? The girl watched as the castle that was in the distance… castle… palace… would she prefer a palace? Would that be what the queen would rather her large… fortress? No… palace, sounded more feminine for a queen. The palace appeared to come closer.

It just must be acceptable for someone to be nervous when coming to see a queen for the first time… it must be!


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter Seven**_

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><p>When Marianne had decided to call the queen's castle a palace, right now was she quite happy she had done! The minute she set her eyes on the grand building she knew that to call it anything else would have been an injustice to the beautiful palace. She looked around, amused with the fact this large building could be hers to roam around and take in the breath taking views. Wow, she had never seen anything so beautiful before – and she had seen a lot of grand houses in her time.<p>

"I've never quite seen anything like it before in my life." She spoke out loud, not really to anyone in particular. Marianne was still accompanied by the Hatter and Mally. She ran her fingers through her long hair – a long running trait of nerves. If she wasn't sure it would take offense, she would more than likely would have been chewing her nails by now. Everything was so bright and white… with hints of pale powder colours. How was she supposed to act? Did she look so out of place?

It was whilst she was taking in the views that the queen of this kingdom had made her way down her bricked pathway towards them. Marianne hadn't noticed at first, too enthralled with her surroundings. It was only when she found her hands clasped in another's that she had found herself brought from her daydreaming. Her eyes hit the White Queen and she almost jumped back in fright.

Now the fact she nearly fell backwards was not because the queen was scary looking – quite the contrary, even Marianne would have said that this queen was the most beautiful woman she had ever set eyes on. She just had never seen a woman quite like her, with the pure white hair and skin – she looked almost as if she was one of those albino people that she had heard about in news reports. She had never quite believed that they were real – but now… now it seemed she could have been wrong, or perhaps this was all makeup and the queen looked just like the rest of them underneath her mask and disguise.

Yes, either way, Marianne knew it would be very disrespectful to ask if she was either of the above – Oh! Well that just jolted her out of her thoughts. Disrespectful, how could she be so disrespectful – she hadn't even addressed the queen of Marmoreal yet! "Your majesty." She finally spoke. She curtseyed to the queen who just gave her a look as if she was mad – well she was in Underland, wouldn't that be enough to tell anyone that Marianne was mad? Had she done something wrong? She was just doing what Mally had told her to do – wait had the mouse knew she would get such a reception for doing what Marianne would have found respectful?

"Now my dear, you do not bow to me. You are my champion." With that the White Queen had twirled away, dragging Marianne along her with. What… wait… for some reason she didn't want to be whisked away from the Hatter or Mally (even if the mouse had just gotten her into trouble, well it wasn't exactly trouble, the queen had only dismissed her), this was because she… well she didn't really know them very well, but she knew she could trust them. Now that was definitely disrespectful! How could she say she didn't trust the queen? It just seemed the white haired woman was a little… unhinged? At least that was the impression that Marianne got. She knew that was disrespectful, but it was just the impression that she had gotten from the leader of this kingdom.

Marianne watched the way the queen moved. She could not say that she had ever seen someone move in such a way before. Her arms never even seemed to drop to her sides! How odd, how could it be comfortable to hold your hands and arms in such a way? She must get a lot of backache too. Her stance was so… straight and stiff. The queen talked to her as if she had been expecting her, or as if someone had told her that she had already arrived – perhaps the Cheshire cat. He was the only one that knew Marianne was already here.

"Your majesty, I was hoping you could tell me about what I'm to slay." Marianne really didn't want to know the answer to this, but the part of her that was curious (and perhaps terrified) just had to know. The queen only told her that there would be a time for that later, and Marianne sighed. She really did want to know at that moment, it was important for her to know so that she could get it out of her mind. Then again – if she had found out, it would perhaps pray on her mind and thoughts and she never would have been able to not think about it. Perhaps, not knowing, at least for now, was better?

The queen took her to a throne room and then told her to take a seat beside her. What, so she wasn't to stand before her or kneel in front of her? How odd, what kind of queen was this? Obviously a good one who cared about her people – no she wasn't just saying that so she wouldn't end up in jail or worse, beheaded. She actually thought this queen must have been a good queen because her grandmother had told her so much – and she had seen so much already. There was not only that unhinged look, but a kindness in her eyes.

* * *

><p>The Hatter had left Mirana, the White Queen, to take care of the new champion. He was probably just to head back to his ever-going tea party and leave Marianne in the queen's company – at least until the slaying. He was hoping so much though that he would have heard more about Alice. A lot more than he had been told – although he had been told much, a lot that he couldn't get his head around. His Alice… his Alice was supposedly an old woman now? Had grown up, her beautiful skin would have grown old, she would have wrinkled – no he could not understand it.<p>

Alice was a beautiful young woman, just in that, her youth. She had her whole life ahead of her, there was no way in the short time he had been without her, that she would have grown old, even old enough to have had one child let alone for that child to have had one of their own. Yet it seemed it had to be that way – it confused the Hatter. He wondered what was the Hatter with him, how couldn't he just take in what Marianne had told him and that be it? Well because he was mad – as mad as the hatter he was.

He would get to the bottom of that – and her muchness. No, not Alice… Alice got her muchness back – he meant Marianne's. Yes, Mary… no Marianne, why was he going to call her Mary? Marianne had near no muchness to speak of… yet the spark of a muchness there was – was still a lot like Alice's, this was the only thing that stopped him from accusing the raven haired girl from lying. Although he knew there was a chance that she could be – no that was him being his silly self – imagining such a thing. To think that someone so sweet looking as Marianne having a side to her that would rival the bloody big head! He couldn't help it his trademark laugh came forth from his lips.

There was just so much in her that reminded him of Alice. His Alice… his now old and decaying Alice… oh what a thing to think! He would have to remember to scold himself later for even using such a word in thought of his beautiful, young, blonde, pretty Alice. Wait, she wasn't his Alice. He would have to stop thinking that – she wasn't, she moved on, she became the wife of someone that the hatter did not even know. Became someone else's…. he was not the only man in her life that got her… not anymore. That depressed him, it really did, his whole appearance dulled as he thought about it. She had someone that loved her, and he had… well now he had no one to love him. Wait. Love – why would he be thinking such a thing – he did not love Alice! Sure he had all those feelings for her, but could it have been love? Love like a friend, a good friend, a best friend, a girlfriend… girl… girl-friend.

He was too lost in thought. This was nothing new! He could think through a hundred things at a time and never get anything done – he wouldn't even get his thoughts done either. He would try to work something out and work out something completely different altogether. It was what he was used to. Thinking all the things he thought, whatever he was trying to work out would end up getting worked out eventually. Or would it. Did that even make sense? Now he was confusing himself!

"Let's go home, Mally."

When the Hatter said home – what he meant was Thackary's home. They lived quite far apart, but they always seemed to share tea at the hares' house. He wondered how things would work out for Marianne – he sure hoped that she wouldn't react the way his Alice had reacted – oh there he went again – his Alice. If Marianne had taken to the fact she could not slay, or would not slay, he knew that she would be more like her grandmother than she thought – how could he see anything of Alice in her? She didn't look anything like his Alice! She didn't have the blonde curls or blue eyes. Nope. Nothing Alice-like in her appearance… then again he didn't look too much into her appearance to check for anything.

Maybe next time – if there would be a next time. Why would she want to visit a mad man anyway? He wasn't even sure as to why his Alice had spent any time with him! It was not like he was sane – that was what he liked about himself though – his insanity! It made him different. It really did – his Alice had said so – she said that he was different from any other man that she had ever met. He could remember the goofy smiles he got when she would say such things to him – wait… he was smiling right now because of that alone.

He had started to make his way back to the hare's house and their tea-party. His mind wandering every so often, as it done, either to Alice or to the new girl – he had never had his mind sail on two subjects before, maybe twenty at a time, but never so restricted as to two subject matters. It was not only refreshing but quite… weird. Alice and Marianne – two girls so different and yet so similar in muchness – even if both seemed to have had so little muchness at the start. Maybe they'd both end up with the same amount of muchness by the end of their adventures? Would Alice's adventure be considered over… now that she had… moved on away from Underland?

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><p>Mirana, her royal highness of Marmoreal could not believe her eyes. Sitting beside her in her royal throne room, was her new champion. She may have been expecting it to have been Alice – in fact part of her wished it would have been. Yes, you see even Mirana had missed her own champion. She had of course been the fact Mirana was back as queen of Underland. She owed so much to Alice and now she was not here. In her place, was a strange dark haired woman with colour in her cheeks – you would not have expected to see such a girl in her palace – let alone in Marmoreal.<p>

Subjects with darker hair and complexions would have more than likely have been found in Crimms with her sister – before she exiled her sister that was. How she felt bad for what she did to her sister – but it had to be done. Just because Mirana exiled her sister and the Knave of Hearts into the outlands did not mean that she did not love her sister, part of her always had, that was why she would always try and get a truce. It was Iracebeth's own fault for never taking that truce. She should not have tried to kill all the people in Mirana's land.

It was Mirana's vow. Never to hurt a living thing – this was why she needed her guards and of course her champion. She took upon knighting Marianne – in a way – as her champion. She would have her there to slay the creatures that would need to be slayed – and this included the dragon beast that had been rumoured to be towering over the palace and destroying the land. Rumour… what a weird word to use. There were usually no such things in Marmoreal as rumours – mostly prophecies. At least prophecies were known to always come true. Rumours… they were so different.

"We will have a room set up for you." She spoke. She would not want her champion living anywhere else but in her own palace. She would make sure that Marianne was taken care of as best as she could be. After all, she had just found out Marianne was the granddaughter of Alice – Underlands' Alice. Mirana stood up and glided her way towards the door of her throne room, just expecting Marianne to follow – after all she was there with her and no one else. This was true, even though Marianne had arrived with the Queen's Hatter. Mirana had realised that it seemed whenever a champion was around in Underland, the Hatter was found nearby.

At least that kept him out of trouble! Mirana turned to look towards Marianne and smiled her sweet smile. "My dear, you will be treated as if you are royalty yourself." She did not see the look in Marianne's face – or else she would have been worried. Or would she? After all she was now ruling Underland once more, did she have much more to worry about than this rumour? A rumour that might not come true – and for the sake of Marmoreal, can't come true.

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><p>"Royalty…"<p>

The word rang inside Marianne's head, hitting off corners, and echoing around inside her thoughts. No… she did not want to be treated like royalty. She did not want the many servants looking after her. She didn't want to have things that she should do herself done for her. She was not lazy. She had been raised not to rely on other people for simple household or daily tasks. The White Queen was a queen, no wonder she had servants, but Marianne – no, Marianne was just a Victorian girl from London. She had to be accepted for who she was. She would have to do things in the way Alice had expected her to – and do things herself – not just throw them onto other people.

Wait she was digressing and thinking too much – her thoughts were starting not to make sense. Was this how the Hatter felt every day? Why was she now thinking of the Hatter? Oh right, the Hatter. Marianne looked around, now that they were out of the throne room and couldn't see him. She didn't want him to leave without her thanking him for bringing her here, and to the queen. Although, if she had had the choice, she would have much rather to have lived in a small house like the one she had been near when they were at the party…

The Hatter probably worked for the queen right? She would see him when he came to work – to make hats… she couldn't imagine the White Queen wearing hats – stupid as it sounds, but she had such pretty hair. She seemed to put so much effort into her appearance (or her maids had) that it would be a shame to hide such a pretty face under a hat. Yet that was just Marianne's opinion on the queen. She herself was really fond of hats.

Her highness, who Marianne had to get used to addressing in such a way, was leading Marianne to a bedroom. It was such a bedroom! The usual type of white pearly colour and the bed – wow – speaking of pearls, it seemed that the bedposts made of pearls. She had seen a four poster bed before, but posts made of pearls? This bed must have cost a fortune! Was money as important in Underland as it was in London? Marianne wondered if money even existed in this land.

Marianne couldn't help but take in the bedroom, the large curtains, the open window, the view. She could see many pink petal covered trees – did trees have petals? She had only heard of such a thing, she had never seen them before, at least not where she came from, but right now she was in Underland. Well it could have been possible – it had to be possible, she was staring right at them! The floor was tiled, amazing. She had never had a bedroom with a tiled floor before.

There was a dressing table, changing screen, and a walk in closest – she had barely even had a wardrobe before, let alone her own closest. She could tell she was most certainly living in a queen's palace. What an amazing bedroom, and this was for her… suddenly, it dawned on her that she was enjoying the treatment. Was this good or bad? She was scared she'd soon be taking advantage of having maids to her beck and call. This was the one thing she did not want. The queen had given her too much already in providing her with such a bedroom.

"Thank you, your majesty."

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><p><strong>Author Note:<strong> Thank you everyone who has reviewed, placed this story on their favorites or alert. It means a lot to me!


	8. Chapter 8

_**Chapter Eight**_

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><p>It had been a couple of days since she had made her way into Underland and although Marianne was still confused as ever, she was beginning to enjoy her stay. Marianne had spent her time mostly with the queen and her court. It wasn't that she didn't want to stay mostly in the company of royalty – it was because she wanted to get out of the palace and spend more time in the magical environment she had had little time to get her head around. The rumoured day of her slaying this still unknown to her beast was coming ever closer… so or she guessed, whether it weeks away or days away, it was still getting closer by the day.<p>

Marianne was still overcome with the way she was being treated. The queen was treating her as if she was a princess and that was something Marianne didn't want to have done to her. She wasn't a princess. She would never be a princess. She just wanted to be treated like the normal girl she was. Apparently being related to a champion meant she was as good as royalty. She had to be honest – the idea of slaying something and cutting its head off or whatever she had to do, well it still didn't appeal to her. She still couldn't get her head around that her grandmother had done such a thing.

Her grandmother might have been level headed and slightly mad like everyone else she had recently met. But there was something about her grandmother that by looking at her Marianne would have said it seemed like she wouldn't be all for slaying something. Yet she must have. Marianne had heard of a few things that were up and coming and not only the slaying day. There would be the ball apparently, in her honour. Even though they would have celebrated Alice's return, they said that they would honour the return of any champion. Marianne was told that before the ball that the queen Mirana herself wanted to knight her as her champion.

Marianne wasn't sure how she felt about that. She was still getting her head around it. Being called a champion was one thing, but to have her be knighted. It would make it official. She would officially be known to all of Underland as their champion. That was a title that would stay with her forever. She knew that – whether she returned back home to London or stayed in Underland. There was going to be someone in each of these lands that would call her the Champion of Underland. For if she told her grandmother, she was sure to understand and do the same as the people of Underland.

But… why her? What exactly did Marianne have to offer this world? She wasn't a trained fighter. She could barely keep her attention on one thing long enough to become a trained fighter. Her mind would go all over the place. She'd lose her focus and would end up killed by whoever wanted to train her! That didn't seem like something she liked the sound of at all. Marianne would do what they wanted her to do though – she had no choice in the matter. That day of slaying would come and she wouldn't have a choice. If she cared about this world – and she did, she really did. It mattered to her grandmother and after all the stories she had heard… and even just being here a couple of days. Marianne had already starting to care about the people and animals she had met.

She couldn't let them get themselves killed being defenceless against this beast. She really just wished she knew what she was fighting so that she could call it by a name. Have some general idea of what it might be – and just what would be the best way of killing it. She really didn't like the idea of killing it – but she knew, she knew she would have to get that in her mind. It was going to happen whether she liked it or not. Marianne might end up getting herself killed, but she would have to face this beast. She would not be seen as a quitter.

What was funnier though, than the fact she was scared of fighting this beast was the fact she was more worried and scared of the upcoming ball. Marianne couldn't dance. No, really, she wasn't just saying that. Her father had tried to get her teachers – but every time Marianne did something wrong she would get frustrated and it would only make her worse. She may have only had been five or six, so it was understandable for a child to give up on something. It was when she grew up and started to understand everything going on around her that she learned that to give up on things wasn't the best thing to do. She had never tried to dance again though – she did what her tutor told her.

_Just stand by the wall and not move. Trust me dear, it's for your own good._

Safe to say that that was what Marianne had done. She had never danced when the James' annual party was going on. What she had done included waiting until the guests had gone and had a special dance in her grandfather's arms. If he was unavailable she would share a dance in her grandmother's arms and that was it. It was easy enough for her, she was little at the time, and they could just bundle her up into their arms and dance her to sleep. It made her sad to think of that. This was because it made her think of her grandfather – Alice's husband who the Hatter had kept asking her to tell him about.

He was such a great man. Well so a granddaughter would think of their grandfather she guessed, she had no idea what he was like when he was younger or when her grandmother had met him. She just remembered the moments when he would sit her on his knee, fold paper and send them into the air and she could watch them fly. Marianne remembered dancing on his feet so that she wouldn't trip up over her dresses and end up on the floor like she usually had done. Richard James was well known in the world before his death, and even now after his death. He did the unimaginable. He courted and married Alice Kingsleigh. Someone no one had ever thought would settle down.

It wasn't an easy battle. She recalled what her grandmother had told her. She had inner feelings she was battling at the time. Although she knew that her grandmother never regretted picking her grandfather – and she had her because of that. Marianne looked around the empty room she had been sitting in. If her grandmother knew she was here, maybe she did know, what would she do right now? It would have been much easier for her though. She knew everyone and probably could do anything she wanted without being looked at in any light. She wouldn't be ridiculed if she did something wrong. The queen might have looked like she wouldn't hurt a fly, and couldn't because of her vows, but something about her told Marianne that she could be strict when she needed to be.

Marianne sent all thoughts of slaying and dancing to the back of her mind. She would end up getting trained for one, the slaying, and perhaps the dancing too if she asked. She didn't want to make a fool of herself and be trained by someone in the field of dancing… but would it not be worse to go and make a bigger fool of herself by dancing and falling in front of the whole queen's court? She wasn't sure, all she knew was this celebration was for her and she couldn't say no and not attend, that would be rude. One thing Marianne didn't want to be when she was here was to be rude. Sometimes she couldn't help it, but this time, she knew she could.

Thinking of what she would do today, she got up from the bed that she had been sitting on. She watched as the material of the dress swooped down by her feet. She had never worn such splendid things before in her life either. Her father tried to make sure she was kept in the best fashions – but the dresses he got made for her were never made by material than tailors used for a queen. Marianne made her way to the door, thinking that she would see if she could be of any use to anyone. Perhaps the queen, the maids, she would settle to help anyone right now. Just to make use of the time she had free. She didn't want to sit around being useless in a bedroom.

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><p>Mirana was thrilled. She had her champion – by words and soon she would have her champion by title. She wasn't sure if knighting Marianne would mean she could not leave Underland, but she would keep that to herself for now and think it over. The woman glided across the floor towards the many people of her court that were waiting for her company. They would go outside into the gardens and see how the trees were. She recalled that the last time she was outside with them they seemed to be in terror or something. That was how she had heard about the upcoming battle. The trees seemed off and she had to have had a word with them. The whole of Underland, the land, the earth, the rocks, the trees, the bushes, even the animals that could not talk – every little corner of Underland was in fear of the creature that wanted to burn the whole of the palace to the ground.<p>

"We have our champion now."

She repeated to herself, and her court. Mirana nodded her head as her long white hair would brush against her arms with every movement for the fact her arms stayed up. She swayed herself to look around. She would hope that when they went to congress with the trees that they wouldn't get disrupted. They may find something out that she did not want to worry with the Underlanders. Mirana certainly didn't want to have Marianne find out what she might learn today. If it was something terrible that Mirana were to find out, she would not want to wait and see Marianne head back to her own world if the idea were to terrify her. She couldn't blame her if she had done.

It was against her vows to hurt a living thing, after all, she wouldn't be able to stop Marianne if she were to cower out and leave. She would only be able to put her into a dungeon to rot for the rest of her life. Mirana didn't do what her sister did. She didn't believe in beheading. This was even the case if she were to have an executioner that would have done the beheading themselves. Mirana would not make that call. She would never hurt a living thing – that was why she had exiled her sister and her sister's knave. They walked, chatted along one and each other with Mirana doing the best she could to look calm and collected.

Normally this wasn't a problem – hardly anything fazed the White Queen. This was just a difficult situation and she didn't know how to react. They could find out something that would take each and every member of her council – and herself – by complete surprise. You might wonder why a queen would take to listening to trees – and how trees could talk. They couldn't, they didn't have faces or mouths like the flowers in her flowerbeds. The trees had their own way of communication – and sometimes it was only faint enough to a degree that only the queen herself could hear it. The rustling of the wind between the trees branches and leaves were how they could converse. She just hoped that they would have the wind when they needed it – for without even the slightest of wind there would be no conversation.

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><p>After looking around for the queen to see if she could be of any help, she had found that she was not there in any of the rooms she would have expected to see her in. Unfortunately she wasn't going to be led on a wild goose chase to find her though – for the white rabbit, Nivens McTwisp, had told Marianne that the queen was away doing official queen business. The rabbit also told her that she was not to disrupt her – that was before the rabbit had checked his watch realising he was late and rushed off once more. She really thought that the rabbit should do something about his inner clock if he kept getting late.<p>

So instead of going after the queen, Marianne had decided to see what she could do elsewhere. Her search led her towards the rooms in the palace where most of the staff worked to make all the many dresses for the queen. She wondered if she would find the workplace of the Hatter if she looked hard enough. She guessed that his work place would have been considered the queen's own dressing room? It would have been big enough for the queen to get dressed and for the Hatter to do his work. Making dresses would most likely take a lot more rooms – for the fact she knew personally already that the queen had many tailors.

Nearly each and every one of them had appeared to Marianne the last few days to take her measurements. She would have happily had just given her measurements, she knew them from heart. Her father made sure she knew them so she could simply give him them when he decided to get dresses made, or picked out for her. She wished he hadn't, his taste was none to be admired. She may have offered this to the tailors but they said no – they had to have a proper measure with their own tapes. Perhaps, she guessed, they measured in different units here in Underland than they did in England. That or the tailors were just really fussy about their work. Well Marianne guessed being passionate about your job was nothing to be ashamed of.

It was just the fact of having being measured by many men, as it seemed that the queen's tailors all were men – which was sort of strange, as she had always only had been measured by women in her home. Men would be measured by men and women by women. She guessed it was different here in Mirana's court. Then again the queen was loved by everyone it seemed – men and women –and for what Marianne had noticed. The queen had no problem with showing that she loved everyone back. She herself had been kissed on the cheek by the queen for being her champion.

"Good morning."

She spoke out as she found where the Hatter was working on the hats for the queen. Marianne still couldn't get her head around that. She couldn't imagine the queen wearing hats – but obviously it must have happened. Marianne made her way closer to the man who was working on a hat at that moment and smiled as she saw it, it was so beautiful. A bonnet, with silk and even a scarf work to tie it around the chin when it became windy. "That is so beautiful. You're very talented." She complimented. Was she disturbing him? Was she even allowed to come in here when he was working?

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><p>The Hatter had been practically throwing himself into his work when he wasn't at home throwing his time into the tea parties he had with Mally and Thackery. He had thought doing so might have stopped his mind from racing between the two women he couldn't stop thinking about. He soon found this wasn't the case, his mind just strayed from the new hat he was making and it would take him twice as long. This was not good when he could normally make eight hats in a poor days work, as today he had barely gotten through the one that Marianne was admiring.<p>

Ever since he found out Alice had married another man, he was confusing himself with his feelings for her. He wasn't sure if he had found himself caring for her as more than a friend, he wasn't sure how she had cared for him. He wasn't sure why he seemed to get concerned about Marianne when she wasn't around. He guessed it was because she was related to Alice – he guessed it was because she was a lot like Alice and he liked her being around because she reminded him of her?

Looking at her even now, her eyes, those green eyes, he glanced at them, if they were blue – they would have been exactly like his Alice's eyes. That didn't make sense, if he saw any eyes and turned them blue, if they weren't already blue. They would look like Alice's. If they were already blue, then they would just… well… what was he doing comparing eyes? He was getting side tracked.

"T-Thank y-you." He stuttered through answering her about being talented. He was suddenly very nervous with being faced with her. He banged his hand onto his chest to calm himself down as he smiled up at her. She did resemble Alice more than he first noticed now that he was getting a chance to have a proper look at her. Sure her skin was a little darker, her eyes were green and her hair was black. You might say, then how does she resemble Alice? Well she did. She had the same cheekbones, she also had Alice's chin. There was something about her nose – he couldn't place that, he thought he might have seen a nose like that before, he couldn't have though – so he guessed it must have come from Alice's… husband's…. side.

He couldn't help but to get slightly angry at the thought of this man having anything to do with Alice. She had better have been treated properly by that man. Alice meant a lot to the Hatter and to Underland to have her treated in any way that would have been improper – he wouldn't have been happy. Marianne had said that Alice was happy, that although she married she never forgot Underland. That was a good thing, but how could he just listen to the words of someone who wasn't Alice? Alice's granddaughter perhaps, but she wasn't Alice. He wasn't listening to Alice's voice, great voice, beautiful voice, voice like… anyway. He only wanted to hear the words that she had been happy and loved that man from her own lips.

Part of him was wishing that she had returned to Underland. Not instead of Marianne, but with her. Even as the old woman that Marianne had to ensure him that Alice now was. For even though he had been constantly battling with his feelings for Marianne – no, his feelings for Alice – he had Marianne in his mind too. For the fact she was now the only person who could save Underland. She had to be treated properly, kept safe and alive, or else Underland was doomed. He was sure that was the only reason why he was thinking of her, and her long black curly hair – curled like Alice's… stop it.

"I've always been fond of hats."

He looked towards Marianne who had spoken. He grinned and ran his fingers to his long bowtie and stretched it out, it not losing its shape. "Well I can make you one." He spoke, his mind completely clear – although it wasn't, was it? Really could it have been clear? He wasn't sure. The Hatter moved his hands away, towards Marianne's waist, not caring much for personal space once again, and moved her towards the long line of hats he had made for the queen. The Hatter removed his hands from her waist and picked up the nearest hat to him and plopped it down upon Marianne's head.

"Hmm…" he drummed his fingers against his chin watching her. He was looking at how the large hat looked on her. "No, that won't do, that won't do at all." He spoke, knocking the hat from her head and onto the ground. "Next." He spoke, taking the next hat and doing the same. She had a good facial shape, just like Alice's… that's not what he was supposed to be thinking of. She had the same sized head as Alice, no his Queen, no Alice, no… no he meant the Queen, she had the same sized head as Mirana but because she had more colour in her complexion, the colour of hat that would suit Mirana wouldn't suit Marianne. "Hmm… I know!" He almost exploded in excitement as he thought of what hat to try on Marianne next.

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><p>Marianne was worried now that she seemed to have distracted him from his work. What had she done? Would he have gotten in trouble for doing this? She watched him fumble around many hats in a corner as she bit her lip. She was actually having fun here – and this was the most fun she had had since she was in Underland. She took the almost flat hat that was on her head and placed it back on the stand. He could be so eccentric this man. It was almost refreshing at the same time though.<p>

Most men in the city she was known to would not show their emotions. Not at all, it wouldn't have been seen proper in the aristocratic world she had once been part of, to be the way the Hatter was. It was strange that her grandfather had been part of that world – that her grandmother had been part of that world. Yet when her grandfather had gotten older, he became less of a joker and focused more on work. She guessed that was because her father would take over the business and her father was quite the… sourpuss.

She was brought out of thinking of home as she found another hat was pressed down into the curls of her hair. She laughed at the fact she had never been dressed in such a way – well not dressed, hatted, and well she didn't think she had ever been hatted before. The Hatter studied her once more and she couldn't help but giggle, she didn't know what she looked like – he could have been making her look like an idiot and she would have no idea.

"There, that's perfect!"

Oooh, perfect, well then, that was all the best – but she still didn't know how she looked. "Can I see?" He pushed her towards a mirror in the corner of the room, the corner of the room - the mirror nearly took up the whole wall! Marianne glanced at herself. The hat that he had given to her to try on this time wasn't the same pale colours that he used to make for the queen. In fact, it was a much brighter shade of blue. It was beautiful, the base was blue, and there was a fluffy rim in white, which was very soft to touch. It reminded her of McNivens' tail when he bounced away from her earlier – oh dear how she hoped it wasn't made from rabbit hair!

"It's so beautiful." She spoke as she glanced from her reflection and then towards the Hatter. He had now gone back at his table, working on his latest hat for the queen. It seemed he had gotten an idea, or something – but he was working very fast, she had never seen someone work on a hat so quickly. In fact, she had never seen someone make a hat before, so these new experiences made her more curious and want to watch. She took the hat off the top of her head before moving over to watch him at work. Marianne kept the hat close to her as she observed him.

"I made that hat for Alice." Ah, that was why he suddenly went back to work. But… but he was grinning, he didn't seem sad. Then again, he could change emotions so quickly that perhaps that was just what this was? She guessed it was possible. The Hatter looked up at her, still happy. "I knew it would look good on you." How could he know that? Alice had blonde hair and blue eyes and she had dark hair and green eyes. Yet… it was a dark shade of blue and that would have contrasted with her hair, but what about her eyes? "Blue was certainly her colour – and you suit blue, I could tell."

Well that was good? She supposed she suited the same colour as her grandmother suited? She smiled at the fact she was getting compare to her grandmother. That was something that never usually happened. She was always mostly compared to her father because no one else would really see a resemblance between her and her grandmother. That was unless it was in personality for they were both considered strange in the society they were part of. Marianne could have been just as crazy as her grandmother once was. Perhaps still is? Marianne guessed she wasn't 'couldn't have been just as crazy' she certainly 'was just as crazy' as her grandmother. She wouldn't have been here in Underland if she was any different.

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><p>The queen wasn't as sure as to how to react to what she had heard from the trees. Mirana remembered the words that whistled through the air, the leaves and the branches. They were still fresh in her mind as she thought them over and over again trying to make sense of them. They didn't tell her a name for the creature – as if that would have been too easy. She knew the trees would have told her though, so perhaps they did not know yet the name of the beast. That in itself was disappointing for the queen. She knew it would have been helpful if she had known, for someone might have heard of it before if it had a name.<p>

_The vorpal sword will only strike true to the beast if the champion that strikes is the purest of hearts. _

Mirana remembered what she had heard. It made sense in a way, but in another way, it didn't. It meant that the sword could be used by anyone to try and slay the beast but would only affect and harm the beast if the person doing the striking had a pure heart. Not just a pure heart. It had to be the champion with the purest heart in Underland. Now, she only had one champion – Marianne, for Alice was no longer here – and from what she had noticed in Marianne, she would tell that the woman had a pure heart. If it was the purest of hearts she didn't know – but she would have to hope so.

If Mirana hoped that Marianne would have had the purest of hearts in Underland, then it would be so. She was the queen, she ruled all. Her word was law. She would say that Marianne had the purest heart and it would be so. Or she hoped. She would not show the doubt in her mind. She would not let anyone but her court know what she had found out. It would not be best to put doubt in other people's minds. Marianne would be their champion, they would train her to go against the beast, and she would save them. Just like her grandmother had done all those years before.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> I hope you enjoyed chapter eight as much as I enjoyed writing it. Hopefully in a couple of chapters I might have a bit of humour to add to the fan-fiction as someone attempts to teach Marianne to dance. I've yet to decide who that might be. If you have any ideas let me know. I still hope that Marianne isn't becoming a Mary-Sue. There's a lot more to the purest heart than meets the eye. So don't just prey on that as why Marianne might be a Mary-Sue. Thank you once again to **NoxNoctisUmbra**, **aireagle92 **and **windwolf1988** for the reviews, I really appreciate them. I also hold high appreciation for everyone who has placed this story on their favourites and alerts. Thank you all!


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter Nine**_

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><p>It was the middle of the night. Everyone in the queen's palace was fast asleep and the only sound to be heard was the rustling of the wind through the trees outside the open balcony. Marianne was sound asleep. The moment she wakes up she will be taken off to get ready for the knighting ceremony. It took her long enough to get to sleep, at least she had finally managed to.<p>

The large blossomed trees outside the balcony wrestled with the wind, the noises rapid as it seemed the trees were communicating with each other. There was only one word that stood out more than any other. _Hydra._ It kept following around the trees, hissing through the silk curtains at the balcony, and travelled through around the sleeping form of Marianne.

_Hydra, Hydra, Hydra, Hydra, Hydra._

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><p>A nine year old Marianne was sitting between her grandmother and her grandfather on the sofa, looking through a whole lot of books that were for her lessons. Her grandfather had taken to teaching her at home himself. What they had started to teach, and learn about were the Greek myths as her grandfather had found himself quite fascinated in them.<p>

"Hera, the goddess had raised a Hydra for the sole reason to kill Heracles." Her grandfather's soft green eyes looked upon her as he bundled her close to him. Marianne didn't think she wanted Heracles to be killed – he was so far her favourite story he had told her about. "Being rejuvenative it was thought that if you cut off a head of the hydra, two more grow in its place."

"That's cheating." Marianne spoke as she glanced from her grandfather to her grandmother. Her grandmother merely expressed a laugh. Her grandfather ran his fingers through her hair as she looked back to him to hear the rest of the story that was going on. She found out that one of the hydra's heads was immortal and therefore by destroying that head, the rest of the Hydra wouldn't regenerate.

"Heracles nephew Lolaus came up with an idea that when each head of the hydra was cut off that they could scorch the stumps that remained with firebrand. This would seal the stumps before the two heads could grow." Marianne was fascinated, even at such a young age she was good at learning things through stories. She loved hearing about these mythological stories as much as she loved hearing of the ones that her grandmother told her about before bedtime. She always found that neither of the stories she heard ever came forth into her dreams.

"What happened next?" She interrupted the silence as she became excited and looked upon her grandfather to tell her more. "How did they defeat the hydra?" Her grandfather continued his story. She heard of how Heracles decapitated each head and Lolaus would sear the stumps at the neck like his suggestion. Marianne twirled her fingers through her long black hair as she cuddled herself into her grandfather's body.

"Hera, furious that Heracles appeared to be winning the battle, sent a large crab in hope to distract him." Marianne replied, 'and did it?' becoming more and more interested as the story went on and the fact it had changed from the hydra to the crab. "Heracles crushed the crab under his mighty foot and slayed the immortal head of the Hydra with the golden sword the goddess Athena gave to him." She heard then how Heracles placed it in a sacred place. "He then dipped his arrows into the blood of the Hydra that was poisonous."

Her grandmother conveyed a distained expression and shuddered as if it brought back bad memories of something she had done once herself. Marianne remembered one of the stories she had heard. This was how Alice when she was champion of Underland, had to drink the blood of the Jabberwocky to return to her own world. Marianne was thinking just how glad her grandmother must have been that it wasn't like the Hydra and that the blood wasn't poisonous.

"And with the slaying of the Hydra, Heracles second task was complete."

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><p>Marianne's body jolted forward and soon she found herself awake from her dream. Was that possibly a dream? It was a memory… she had dreamt of a memory. She guessed it would explain why when she was in her world she wouldn't dream and when she was in this world she would only dream of the past… why couldn't she ever find a happy medium? What she would give to have normal dreams like any other girl. Those girls had no idea how good they had it, having the chance to dream about men that would sweep them off their feet.<p>

"The hydra…" She asked herself, as she looked upon her hand before plunging it through her thick curls. "It… it can't be." She spoke looking at the open window, the wind so furious it sent the curtains midway through the air. How could she trust a dream? Especially when she never dreamt anything before, it was purely coincidental – besides… why would a Greek mythological beast be in Underland? They didn't have a golden sword to kill an immortal head anyway. From what she had seen of the vorpal sword, it was most definitely not golden in colour.

She took in a deep breath as she wondered why a dream of her grandparents would affect her so much. It wasn't a nightmare, although during the dream she did have flashes of the hydra and Heracles defeating it. That was purely her imagination though. It couldn't be real – although, if it was, shouldn't she be happy? If the hydra was this beast she was to slay – then perhaps it was for the best if she knew its name and knew how to defeat it.

Marianne decided to keep the dream to herself. Her dreams, if she ever had any, weren't concrete enough for her to tell her majesty about. Why would Mirana believe her anyway? She hadn't been near her recently to tell her about anything. She had wanted to ask if there had been any headway about the beast, if any new information had come up. All Mirana had done was evade the subject and talk about something she wanted to discuss – the upcoming knighting. Marianne was still nervous, remembering that made her recall that today was the day. She would become the champion of Underland.

She guessed she would have to try to get some sleep so that the day wouldn't overwhelm her. Her dream wasn't a nightmare, but it certainly took a lot out of her. "It was just a dream." She told herself, closing her eyes and cuddling her head back into the large comfortable pillow. "Just a dream…" She finally found herself falling back asleep – and she did not dream for the rest of the night.

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><p>Mirana stood on the balcony of her bedroom, looking out at the view that overseen nearly all of the land she ruled over. Today was the day, she could tell something more important than just the knighting ceremony was going to happen. She felt almost at one with Marmoreal that she had a good feeling of knowing when something was going to happen and if it would be good or bad. Only, this time, she could not tell if it was going to be bad or good for her kingdom. The queen turned around and walked along to the door, dragging her long beautiful white dress with her.<p>

"Nivens." Mirana addressed the white rabbit that, today, would most likely run out of time getting everything done for the knighting. "Make sure you prepare Marianne for the ritual bath this morning." She had informed the maids that looked after Marianne to ensure that the ritual bath would be done this morning when the day was young. The ceremony would be rushed through – but Mirana had no idea of when the rumour would come true – or if it would turn into a prophecy anytime soon, so she had to be prepared. The rabbit bounced off to do what she had informed him to do.

She had already made sure that a dress was made for Marianne, white, for the ritual bath and then for the ceremony itself. White of course was the colour of Mirana's kingdom, and her title, but it was also a pure colour. She was told that the person to strike true to this beast would be pure of heart. This was why she wanted to make sure the ritual bath was there to purify Marianne as well as giving her the dress with the purity colour. She had to make sure it all went to plan. Mirana made her way through her bedroom door and found herself amidst her court.

"We shall converse with the trees once more." She spoke, looking around them all with great ease and comfort. She wasn't worried, after today nothing could go wrong. "This way, once we know the ceremony will go smoothly, we will be able to relax." Mirana spoke leading them to the trees in her gardens. She was already calm and relaxed for the fact Marianne was there, she herself was there and Nivens were there, the only three important beings for the knighting ceremony. As long as the one that was being knighted, the one saying the words and the queen herself to perform the action were there, then nothing could go wrong. Nothing could go wrong at all.

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><p>"Can you just… tell me, what does a ritual bath mean?" Marianne spoke as she looked upon the maid in the white queen's court that was going to help her through what she had to do for this bathing ritual. The maid, Raven Lignum wasn't someone that Marianne had expected to see here in the castle, she looked completely different from the rest of the women in Mirana's court. She had brown hair, tied back, colour to her cheeks not disguised in a lot of makeup and although she was wearing a white apron the rest of her clothes were dark colours. Perhaps that was why she was a maid, so that the royals and guests could tell who the maids and servants were. Nonetheless Marianne was just happy for the company. Not for the service.<p>

"Well for one thing, Miss, it's not a bath at all." Marianne was confused, how could it not be a bath? It was called a ritual bath for goodness sake. "It's a river outside in the queen's garden." Okay so she was to get naked and bathe in the queen's personal stream that was most likely filled with fish? That didn't sound too… clean or purifying to Marianne. "You will wear a ceremonial robe and bathe in the water. It is said that it removes any impurities that you may have." What kind of impurities did they expect Marianne to have anyway? "It's not just what you must do miss, each of the queen's knights when chosen and are knighted do this too."

Would the queen not be there? She guessed not, it wouldn't have been needed for the queen to watch the woman undress to a robe and bathe in a river. She guessed as long as there was someone to say what had to be said and then report to the queen to say it was done, that would be it? Who would that be she wondered? Most likely the White Rabbit, after all, he seemed to do all those sort of things. Or so she would have guessed – a lot of the queen's duties that weren't performed by her, seemed to be performed by the rabbit. Raven handed the robe to Marianne and she looked down upon it. "This was made especially for you, Miss." Raven told her. "The Mad Hatter." She nodded her head towards the garment. "The queen believed it would add to the importance of the ceremony. You two are friends after all."

"Thank you, Raven. I can get changed into it myself." With that the maid disappeared and Marianne made way through to the walk in closest with dressing screen in the bedroom and started to remove her nightdress and got into the robe that she would have said was just like the nightdress but lighter. She hoped that it would be only women at the bathing ritual. This would most definitely turn see through in water. She didn't seem to mind the fact that the rabbit was there – he might have been male – but even that couldn't have been possible in Underland, right? Animal and human interaction in such a way… Then again, like she had said, this was Underland, and anything was possible. That idea sent shivers down her spine as she looked upon her reflection. "Just breathe and it'll be over with before you know it, Mary."

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><p>She stood there, almost freezing as she looked around the queen's own personal garden. It was beautiful, don't get her wrong, but Marianne was standing there, in that ceremonial robe and it was all that she was wearing, she was even barefoot. That she didn't mind though, she loved going around barefoot. Her eyes looked at those who were with her as she exhaled a sigh of relief. The only male amongst the group was the rabbit. Marianne hadn't noticed that the queen was witnessing what was happening from the balcony of her bedroom. She had no idea the queen was conversing with the trees, or what the trees might have told her, if anything.<p>

"When you're ready, Marianne." The rabbit spoke as Marianne sighed, she could tell from the look of the water that it was freezing and she wasn't going to enjoy this at all. Marianne nodded her head before making her way into the river, it wasn't really a river, or a stream, and it wasn't very deep. It was like a rock pool to be honest, just bigger. The minute the water touched her skin she could have squealed from how cold it was, but she soon got used to it and found herself knee deep before being told to kneel down. God, she was not enjoying this in the slightest. Marianne knelt there, in the 'river' as she looked upon the rabbit.

"Living water of the gods of Underland, bless this child, daughter of Earth. Give her purity and strength where needed." The rabbit spoke, as the maid from earlier reappeared and took a bowl. With that bowl, Marianne watched, filled it to the rim with water from the 'river' and started to pour it over Marianne's head, as she closed her eyes letting the drip of the cool liquid wash down her. "With your touch and with your blessing, discard all impurity and bring forth truth, charity, hope and faith." Marianne opened her eyes as she looked from Raven and then the rabbit. Was that it? Raven moved away from the river, so that she would not get wet or taint the water.

Marianne looked towards the rabbit that wrapped together the bindings of scripture and told Marianne that that was it over. It was so fast, how could that have been it? "I don't feel any purer." She spoke as she got out of the water and Raven handed her a towel. Well at least she had that? Raven spoke next telling Marianne that it didn't matter how it felt, the ritual had to be done. What Raven hadn't informed Marianne was that it wasn't usual for the person to be emerged in a river or stream – that they usually just used a bowl of water to do the ceremony? Mirana felt that it had to be done properly though – so they had made sure Marianne was using her full body with living water. Marianne wrapped the towel around her and made her way to the palace once more.

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><p>It wouldn't be long before the knighting itself, and the more that was coming closer, the more nervous she got. Raven took the ceremonial gown, robe, whatever she kept using different words for it, and had it hanging over the balcony to dry in time for the knighting. Marianne was sitting in a night robe looking into the mirror from a chair. "Tell me… is it normal for the queen to have female knights?" The answer, she had expected anyway. 'No, Miss.' so not only was she an outsider from Underland but she would now be an outsider from the normal knights that the queen had. She just wondered what it would mean to be knighted and the champion. Would she have to defend the queen all the time, like the knights do?<p>

Or would the queen have special requests to ask of Marianne? Marianne dried her hair as well as she could with the towel whilst she looked back and forth from the maids running through her bedroom. She sighed, she hated being waited on, but she knew this was all in preparation for the upcoming hours. She knew the ball wasn't being held on the same day – because the ceremony had to be performed at a special time. She was glad for the fact she had yet to be taught any lessons with dancing. Then again, she hadn't asked to be taught, she was still embarrassed about her lack of dancing skills. Marianne moved herself from the table, placing the towel upon the chair where she sat.

This was all new to her. Would she forever be bound to Underland after this? Would she be free to return to England after this upcoming battle? Would she be given the opportunity to stay in Underland? Would she be given the choice? She wasn't sure, and wondering over these currently pointless answers wasn't going to do Marianne any good at all.

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><p>It wouldn't be long now. Mirana knew this. The time for her knighting her champion was coming ever closer and after an unsuccessful conversation with the trees she had yet to know when the upcoming battle was coming. She still had no idea what the beast was, the trees were keeping mum with her about this. She had no idea why, she was the queen, if they knew, they should have informed her. Mirana moved her fingers through her long white hair as she made her way through her palace towards her throne room.<p>

She would be knighting Marianne and then it would be time for getting Underland's champion prepared for the battle. The training given with swords had definitely not gone to plan. Marianne appeared to be predictable. So the knight that Mirana had given sole duty to train Marianne up, was finding it very easy to hit every swing that Marianne sent his way. The knight would not give up and Mirana was sure Marianne would find her courage soon.

Until then – being knighted, should give her an added incentive to get better. Mirana had many reasons as to why she was performing the ceremony. It wasn't just because it had to be done. It did not, they did not knight Alice, yet they weren't given a lot of time with Alice. Marianne was unsure in herself, and Mirana had noticed this. She hoped that if she were knighted with a title that that would give Marianne more of a reason to prove herself. Mirana took a seat on her throne. The time was coming ever closer.

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><p>The rabbit was looking upon Marianne, who was once again dressed in the ceremonial robe that the Hatter had made for her. Marianne would make sure to thank him for doing so. It felt good to have had him be a part of this. Her grandmother would have liked that. She knew that he, the hare, the dormouse and the Cheshire cat were all there for the knighting ceremony. It made her less nervous, as she had recently just realised that she wasn't alone in this. She had them, and the queen. She may have to prove herself, and that were many people she had to do this for, including herself. Yet if she had even just one person believe in her, she felt like she could perhaps do this.<p>

The queen told her to kneel down and Marianne did so. Her hair falling over her shoulder but she did not budge. The rabbit moved forward holding the scripture in his paws that she recalled from the earlier bath. This was it. No going back. She would be knighted. Her eyes cast over the queen, and she hoped that she could do her best to make her and the people of Underland proud.

"Marianne Kingsleigh, do you swear an oath that you will always defend the people of Underland. That you will speak only the truth and that you will be loyal to the White Queen. Do you swear your oath that you will be charitable and defend the poor and in moments where hope seems lost that you will be brave?" The white rabbit recited from the piece of scripture. Marianne looked once more to Mirana sitting in her throne, and to her gladness, looking at her with an approving and almost proud gaze. "Do you swear to your oath that when on a quest, you will not remove your armour at any point unless for sleeping. And, that you will not avoid dangerous paths out of fear?"

Marianne was trembling slightly, as she nodded her head. "I swear to uphold all of the points to my oath." She spoke, still bowed on the ground in front of Mirana. The queen stood up from her throne and moved towards Marianne with the vorpal sword in hand. Marianne closed her eyes as she felt the blade be touched upon her shoulders. Then the voice of their majesty did what she was dreading from the moment she woke up.

"From this day forward you will be known as Lady Kingsleigh, knight of Marmoreal. Our champion." Marianne stood up from where she was kneeling, looked towards the armour that was displayed with such affection for her to wear as the new champion of Underland. She pushed her long black hair from her shoulder as she looked towards Mirana who was standing to offer her the vorpal sword for the weapon that she would use to defeat the upcoming threat… which could possibly be that hydra she was dreaming of.

Marianne's eyes looked upon the sword in all its glory and it felt right to hold it. She knew her grandmother had held it once and used it to slice through the head of the Jabberwocky and save Underland. Marianne would do the same thing – she would save Underland and prove that she deserved the title of Lady Kingsleigh, knight and champion of Underland. She bowed once more to the queen, and turned around to all the people of Mirana's court who had turned up for the ceremony.

Her eyes looked around all of her new friends. They would all be there at the upcoming ceremonial ball and she couldn't wait. Now that the knighting ceremony was over she felt more at peace with herself. Mirana moved to sit back on her throne, her eyes casting approving glances all over as she dismissed the court and Marianne herself. For some reason, now knighted and joined to this land, Marianne almost felt like she had found where she belonged.

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><p><strong>Authors Note:<strong> Bit of a boring chapter, I'm afraid, but I enjoyed writing it. Never once have I had to learn so much about certain subjects when writing a single chapter. I hope no one will nit-pick over the bath, knighting ceremony and such because I did my best with it and I'm thoroughly happy with it. I'm also really happy with picking the Greek mythological Hydra to be my upcoming threat – I do not own that, obviously, and I don't personally own the OC used of Raven Lignum, who is my best friend's OC. She allowed me to use her though! Thank you to **Selmalessthanthree , Rocky181 , AccioVoldemortsNose , Ranguvar27 and Little Jellicle** for the reviews, and I hope you keep reading and enjoying my fiction. Also thank you to all the new favourites and alerts I have gotten from everyone. I really appreciate each and every one! :)


	10. Chapter 10

_**Chapter Ten**_

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><p>With an all mighty blow Marianne once again found herself on the ground. This was just as useless as the first time. Her eyes looked upon the knight who was teaching her the sword fighting techniques as she sighed, shaking her head before getting back up. Her long hair in a braid that swung as she moved, grabbing the sword she had dropped onto the marbled concrete. The look in the eyes of the knight teaching her was as disproved as any other time he had defeated her in one swing.<p>

"Come on, I'm still learning, give me a break." With a mighty sigh she took a step backwards, swinging the sword above her head as he came towards her with the sword. She closed her eyes at the impact. It almost made her take yet another step back. "Sir Rook, do you have to be so…" She faulted in what she was saying, shuddered under the pressure and lost her footing, falling back onto her rear end.

The knight that Mirana had chosen especially to don the task of teaching Marianne the art of sword fighting was wearing a marbled outfit that was shaped completely like a giant rook from a chess set. Upon first look Marianne had thought it was a large walking and talking rook itself. She soon learned that this was the type of armour that their queen had decided that she wanted her knights to wear.

She just hoped that she didn't expect Marianne to wear them – whether she would end up being a pawn or not. They looked so heavy and she could barely get any hits with the sword in the armour she was wearing currently. She had found out the armour that had been displayed at the knighting ceremony was not made for Marianne, but belonged once to her grandmother. Marianne and her grandmother appeared near the same size. There were only small adjustments to be made here and there.

"Forget it." She finally continued her sentence from earlier, pushing herself back up onto her feet vorpal sword still in hand and attempted another route. Swiftly turning on her foot she twirled herself around with a blow and brought the sword down upon Sir Rook. The knight took a step back, found his balance. She blew strands of her hair that fell lose out of her eyes as she looked upon him. She couldn't help but smile – not meaning to brag – but it was nearly the first hit she had ever landed in her training, and she had had nearly five sessions throughout the past few days already.

"That's better." He wasn't very impressed. Marianne rolled her eyes. Sir Rook attacked, she swayed the sword and blocked. Struggled with the weight once more, but kept her composure. She did not fall. She was getting better – slowly. Marianne still hated the idea of slaying something, but she had sworn an oath now and this was an oath she was determined to keep. The knight once again got the better of Marianne and she found herself off her feet. "But don't get cocky just because you land one blow. Your opponent won't stop to let you celebrate."

Marianne cursed under her breath, she couldn't help herself, it wasn't a ladylike or pure thing to do, but it felt like the right time to do so. She pushed herself up from the ground and the sword had fallen from her hand once more. She looked around as she wondered when this session would be over. She had wanted to find the Hatter to thank him for the gown he made for her. Great her attention was taken, the knight took advantage.

She ducked, found herself back on the ground, rolled, picking up the sword, got back onto one knee and swung the sword with her might. Both swords clashed, Marianne got back onto her feet and looked up, her expression scowling with the pressure. "That was a dirty trick." She almost spat, finding her fire as she looked upon the rook. Then she guessed. If she was ever to fight an opposition with a sword, they would not play clean and safe with her when they attacked. Marianne moved her sword down when she felt the knight take away his force.

"That's it for now. You're getting there, but I won't go easy on you forever." That was easy? How could that have been easy, he had her on the floor so many times, had cut her skin so many times with his sword – and that was easy? She guessed she really did have a lot to learn. This was when she was starting to sigh and wonder why she had thought dancing lessons would be difficult – they would be a breeze compared to this. Marianne rubbed her forehead with a cloth as she looked around at the knight who was making his way towards the palace. What she would give for a drink of water right about now.

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><p>Marianne made her way through the palace, her hand slightly sore from grasping the sword tightly during her lesson. She laced her fingers through her hair. Marianne undid the binding before undoing the weave of the braid and letting her hair fall down by her shoulders and then her arms. Marianne looked through the door of the Hatter's workroom before smiling and seeing him at work. She knocked on the open door before letting herself in.<p>

"Fancy a break?"

She asked, leaning her head against the door. She would thank him for the gown. Then they could go for a walk after getting out of the armour and in doing so give the Hatter a break. She knew how careless he seemed to be with time. She had seen him get carried away in his work and forget to take breaks. "Go for a walk? The garden?" Marianne offered a smile on her lips as she made her way inside, before taking the heaviest parts of the armour off and putting them onto a mannequin.

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><p>Since she asked him out to walk with her and he accepted, Marianne was quite happy and content in the day. Sure she was still quite sweaty but she had expected to be upon her training. She ran her fingers through her hair as she looked towards the Hatter and smiled looking at the way he looked. He seemed really happy – and she was glad with that. Although it hadn't been the way he was feeling that she was looking at for. She had been more interested in seeing the dazzling shade of eye shadow that was around his eyes and the fact his eyelashes were white. It was something she had never seen before, but she liked it – in fact she really liked it.<p>

"I was hoping maybe you'd tell me about Alice and how she had spent her time here?" No matter how disrespectful Marianne felt herself being by calling her grandmother by her first name it seemed when she was here in Underland she couldn't help it. Everyone else called her by Alice and never said anything like 'your grandmother' or 'your grandmother Alice' so it just seemed to seep into her mind and nag at her to refer to her grandmother by her first name. She knew Alice had enjoyed her times here in Underland and just wondered how she spent her time. She watched as the Hatter's appearance perked up at the sound of her grandmother's name and she smiled.

There was something else though growing down deep inside of her. He never seemed to react in such a way when it was her being mentioned, or her around him. Alice meant so much to him – no… no wait, she wasn't jealous. They were friends, and Alice had those feelings for him – but it never went to anything. Marianne knew she shouldn't be jealous especially when she hadn't been in Underland or in the Hatter's company that long yet. Marianne's fingers found her hair again, her nervous trait – something she couldn't seem to stop doing.

"She loved my tea parties." Ah, of course she did. "She really loved my tea parties, and the Hare's of course – and Mally's, they aren't just my tea parties, I didn't mean to seem like I claimed them." Marianne laughed. "That didn't make any sense did it?" She nodded her head, perfect sense. This was funnily enough. The Hatter moved his hand to his hat, adjusting it as he looked at her. Marianne licked along her bottom lip feeling how rough her skin felt in the cold air. "Time always seemed to stand still when we had those parties – still does. I think he secretly enjoys the tea parties."

"Well how couldn't he." Marianne spoke. "It's always so much fun, from what I've seen. I only had that first day, before I came here." She spoke, realising just how much she wanted to have tea with the Hatter, hare and Mally once more. In fact, properly – because the first time was quite tense actually as she had to explain who she was and all that. The Hatter then told her that she was always welcome at their table and she couldn't help but grinning at that. "Really?" Then she gained an 'Of course' and couldn't stop smiling – it was something she had wanted to do from the start. Be part of one of those infamous tea parties.

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><p>The Hatter smiled his ridiculous smile as he looked from Marianne and to the view in front of them. He had seen it so many times already as he seemed to be around the palace quite a bit through work and visiting the Queen, but he always enjoyed it. The view never got old to him. He was quite content in his mind, which for him, was not something he was used to. Marianne had mentioned his Alice. He had decided that no matter what had happened in Marianne and Alice's world that Alice would be considered his. He missed her, he really did, and it almost tortured him with the fact that she wasn't there. It wasn't as bad now, because someone was there, not really taking Alice's place, but someone was definitely there now to ease the inner turmoil.<p>

Gazing back at that someone he couldn't help but laugh at how she looked. "What?" And he couldn't help but answer as to why he was laughing at her. It didn't seem to come to his mind that by what he would say it might hurt her feelings.

"You just look so funny." She pouted at him (she was just thinking how funny he looked) as he said that. She did though, her hair was all sticky with the sweat, her vest and shorts that she was wearing were stained also and she was barefoot from removing the boots she had been wearing at her training. She certainly looked a sight, a right sweaty disgusting but still somewhat alluring sight. Now just why did he think that? Why did the Hatter just think that even in such a state that Marianne was alluring?

What kind of word is alluring? He could have thought pretty, beautiful… alluring seemed to be a pretty sophisticated word and it worked when he looked at Marianne. She had muttered that she didn't look a mess. "But you do." He kept speaking. "No concern though!" Emphasising that it did not matter he moved his hand up pointing. "It simply means you were working hard." He had been working hard today, so hard, so many hats – different types of designs – all for the queen. Now his mind had gone from her training to his hats.

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><p>"Okay I do, but at least you were kind enough to bypass the fact I smell."<p>

She laughed as she looked upon the Hatter once more. She did smell, she could smell it herself and she hated the fact she was around the Hatter like this. Suddenly she wished she bathed before going to see him, but it was such a nice day and perhaps if she had bathed and came to see him after that, it might not have been as pleasant as it was. Although it was cold, through the light wind, it was still sunny. The sunlight shone through the blossomed trees and upon her skin, which heated her up when the wind passed them.

"I love it here in the palace." She spoke, going to confess. "But I would like to see where you live… go back to the Hare's too. I didn't see a lot of where he stayed – and I only ever really see him in the kitchen and I don't usually stay long enough. Last time I did. Well I near took a pepper grinder at my head for saying the soup wasn't seasoned enough." Glimpses of the infuriated hare came to her mind as she remembered that. Last time she criticised his cuisine, but for a hare, he sure was quite a good cook.

"Underland just seems so big, and I feel like I haven't had the chance to see the world I'm defending."

She wouldn't have time now though. Marianne could tell that. Seeing as she had to train, she would have to stay in the palace grounds. Soon she would have the ball – again, in the palace. She didn't seem to be leaving the palace – it was fine, she didn't mind, but would have liked to get out. She knew she was simply repeating the same thoughts in her head… but it was what she wanted. She just wanted to go out and see the world_. 'How cliché' _she told herself as she moved her hand to pull her vest down over her side as it rose up by the walking.

"Well I invite you to a late night tea party. You can come to my table and then get to see somewhere you've never been to yet."

She listened to him and nodded her head before shaking her head, saying she wouldn't want to impose. Now she had just said she wanted to go and now felt she was imposing, perhaps this was because it was to be tonight… somewhat soon. She looked a mess, she hadn't bathed, she smelt! "You're not imposing, Marianne. We would enjoy nothing more. Anyone else, the cat, maybe not, but you – Alice's relation of all, we could happily ask you to come!" He was excited, she smiled – it was somewhat cute.

"Oh, okay, fine." Marianne laughed, no she giggled, what the hell, why was she giggling? He seemed to have the effect on her, he was so mad and somewhat hilarious to her that she couldn't help but act childish around him. No, that was the wrong word. Not childish… she felt free. She didn't feel as reigned in as she did when she was around her father and all those stuck up people in England. The only people who she would be like this around were her grandparents… and without them with her, she felt good to be around the Hatter as he brought out that side of her. "Will you and Chessur ever get along?"

"As much as I wid love to try that." Sarcasm seemed to lace his words. "I doubt anythin' we tried to dae wid actually work." She nervously laughed as she looked at him. It seemed that Scottish tinge was in his accent and his green eyes were changing to that golden shade. She had noticed that thinking of the Cheshire cat seemed to have made him a little angrier again. She was only asking though – she was curious of the feud they seemed to have. Marianne delicately placed her hand onto his arm and he seemed to retort back to being calm and cheery.

"So tea!"

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><p>"Well if you let me go and get less… funny looking." She spoke as she turned to look at the palace. "You can get back to work, and then when the day's nearly over you can take me there." Marianne explained, she had never been there and would most likely get lost. It wasn't like she had a guide to take her there if the Hatter were to go home by himself. Marianne smiled as she recalled how she found him in the first place – the Cheshire cat, that cat had taken Alice to him too. "That way I will enjoy myself more, if I'm clean."<p>

Marianne moved her hands behind her back, entwining her fingers as she tilted her head to look at the Hatter who was nodding his head. She knew his working day wouldn't have been over because he still had a hat to do. She had disrupted him half way through making it. As bad as that was though, everyone needed to take breaks during work. "Great." Beaming Marianne started to walk back to the palace, with the Hatter behind her. "The hare, the last time I knew, was still in the palace's kitchen."

"His name's Thackery."

The Hatter told her this and she gave another nervous laugh. "Yeah… the Hare." She replied, turning to the Hatter. "You really don't want to hear me try and pronounce his name." She retorted remembering many a days with her dialect course, a therapist for her speech when she was younger. Words beginning with the letters th always seemed to be a difficulty for her. She could pronounce them now – by learning if she stuck her tongue between her teeth when she spoke the start of the word it would pronounce properly. She just didn't want to look stupid and do that action when she was speaking to the Hatter.

With words like 'the' or 'that' or 'then' she had learned to pronounce them without emphasising the action with her tongue, but any new word and 'Thackery' was most definitely a new word. She would need that action and she wouldn't like to look at herself doing that – let alone the Hatter. "The closest you'll get to hear me say it is Zackary." She confessed, shrugging her shoulders. "I know how I hate it when people pronounce my name wrong – I mean it started off Mary-Ann, the way they would pronounce it when my father wanted it to be pronounced Ma-ree-Anne." She gave how the pronunciation actually was. "I was Mary-Ann for quite a long time."

It was because of that fact that Alice would have originally teased her by calling her Mary. Soon that stuck too – and she loved it actually. How it started off as a secret teasing, and now it was Alice's name for her. "So… I know how frustrating it can be to have your name said wrong. I wouldn't want to do the same to him." She told the Hatter who simply replied with;

"Thackery widnae even notice if ye say his name wrong." With his arms behind his head and glancing towards the palace they were walking ever closer to the Hatter explained. "Probably start callin' himself by 'Zackary' for a while if ye did." Marianne smiled as she looked to him. Well the Hare did seem to be even madder than the Hatter at times, but he was unquestionably smart too. That could be seen with the fact he was such a good cook – you would have to be considered smart to cook well – only he was mad enough to throw said food across the room.

Marianne ran her tongue along her teeth before sighing to herself and closed her eyes. She would practise saying the hare's name when no one was around and have it come out as fluidly as normal 'th' words. She couldn't help but feel her inner torment over the fact she couldn't pronounce someone's name. She had this problem once before you see. The man her father wanted to pair her off into marriage with was named Theodore and he didn't enjoy the fact she couldn't pronounce his name. That was what encouraged her father to get her the dialect coach. It was funny how something as small as pronunciation could be such a problem.

It helped her to know that she could say what she wanted here and most likely not cause a ruckus like she would at home. It really was such a magical, if that would be the word for it, place to be in. "We'll see." Smiling naturally as she walked into the palace and turned to the Hatter. "Well I'll go freshen up and say we'll meet back here when your days over?" He looked at his pocket watch and told her the time that he would be finished by. "Six? Gives me…" She looked at the pocket watch surprised at how time flies! "An hour and a half. Really, is it that late?" It was most certainly day time when she was training – and most definitely lunchtime when she was walking with the Hatter what seemed like moments ago.

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><p><strong>Authors Note:<strong> Now I was missing some interaction between the Hatter and Marianne, and getting to know more about how Marianne acts. I also wanted to try some training for the fact she had never handled a sword before – that was quite hard fun to write as I had only ever tried writing her training in a personal one-shot. I hope you enjoyed this chapter – next chapter will be the tea-party which I think will be fun to write! I've already started to write the ball chapter too, because I had an idea of it and didn't want to lose it :) Thank you so much to **Ranguvar27, fireisprettybeafraid, Rocky181, Selmalessthanthree, Amanda and Zara1515** for the reviews, they mean so much to me. I love to know that whilst I write because I enjoy this fan-fiction that other people are enjoying it too :) I also want to personally thank everyone for any favorites and alerts I received for this fan-fiction since the last chapter!


	11. Chapter 11

_**Chapter Eleven**_

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><p>After a quick bath and change, Marianne knew she would enjoy tonight. It was because she was finally getting out of the palace and having the chance to spend time with the Hatter, Mally and the Hare. She would get his name properly – soon, she would be sure to. It was one of her new personal tasks! The young woman slid her hairbrush through her long hair as she looked at herself in the reflection. She didn't look too bad, but she didn't want to wear a big dress walking through the woods to get to the Hatter's house.<p>

She guessed it would be through the woods. That was the way that she got to the Hare's and she recalled a sign, vaguely on her way to find the Cheshire cat who had ditched her, which pointed in two directions. She had been drawn to the hare's, naturally, as that's where she found the cat, but the other one had the Mad Hatter's name carved onto it.

Marianne was thrilled at her choice of outfit actually. She probably would have been ridiculed thoroughly at home if she had decided to wear riding trousers whilst being female. She didn't care. She wore a long shirt, tied around the waist with the material from her night robe as she moved her hair back into a ponytail. She knew she was dressed like a man, but she wasn't going to be treated the way she would in England, she knew that. Her father would most definitely have turned his nose up at her if he could see her now.

Only a man would wear trousers and get away with it but she knew that she was wearing trousers in that training armour she had been wearing and got no hassle. Besides, it was late and no one would see her but the Hatter and his guests. She didn't think he would say anything, actually part of Marianne knew he wouldn't. Marianne stood up from the table and made her way out of the bedroom she had been staying in – but she had felt more inclined lately to call it her bedroom, she didn't see any reason why not. She enjoyed staying here – part of her already didn't want to go home.

Marianne made her way to the entrance of the palace where she had left the Hatter to see him there waiting for her. Thackery was shivering, bouncing around with some bottle of liquid in his paws. She thought he really should of been careful – wouldn't want to drop it. She couldn't see Mally from quite far away, but as she walked closer, it was soon discovered that the dormouse was once more on the Hatter's hat. She sure enjoyed riding on it that was for sure. "I'm here." Marianne spoke behind them, causing Thackery to jump, almost throwing the glass bottle at her. She was amazed it didn't soar towards her actually. He had stopped himself and she was shocked for he usually didn't care what he was throwing at people.

"Sorry." She apologised to the hare that seemed jittery, yet he always was quite easily scared it seemed. Well scared probably wasn't the right word – just… mad. As they walked towards the Hatter's house, she couldn't seem to find herself to focus to memorise the route or anything. You see her curiosity was getting the better of her regarding the strange bottle. She had soon realised that the liquid inside was actually a sauce of some kind and the hare was guarding it with his life. "So what's…" she asked, moving her hand near the bottle that got shifted away from her quickly, with the hare's free paw slapping her on the back of the hand as a punishment.

"Dinnae touch tha'!"

_Oops._ "Sorry, just curious." She spoke to the hare as she looked towards the Hatter and Mally for some sort of answer whilst the hare bounced off a few paces ahead of them. She sighed, that must have been just in case she had decided to try and steal his sauce bottle again. She was only interested. "What is it?" The dormouse answered for her, said it was a special sauce blend to add on the different type of bakery that they had shared when they had tea. "Sounds good, he seems so protective of it." She noticed, tilting her head and watched the hare.

"Special recipe, secret, top-secret, cannae find out unless you're there when he's making it." The Hatter informed her as they walked through the woods. The moon was out, crescent shaped, almost seemed like it had pointed teeth actually. Marianne observed this, shook her head, imagining she had made the teeth part up. Marianne jolted out of her thoughts as she had realised, she hadn't thanked the Hatter for making that gown for her yet and she was so determined to do so earlier. How could something that she had tried so hard to remember slip her mind so easily?

"Oh, Hatter." She gained his attention once more. Marianne leant forward, kissing his cheek, missing the fact that they turned a slightly pink shade by the contact of her lips. "Thank you for that gown, for my ceremony." She continued, as she moved back, looking towards their surroundings as she walked. "It really was beautiful and the material was so soft." Something she had done, she wasn't sure what it was – but she had gained a glare from Mally. Marianne rose her eyebrow, trying to make the little rodent out. She wouldn't apologise though – she did nothing wrong.

"O-Oh that's quite fine. I'm glad you liked it. You looked beautiful, astounding, and pretty in it; it was pretty for a champion wasn't it? A fine champion at that. Oh dear, I'm rambling."

Yes he was. She laughed at the fact he had realised this himself. Marianne hadn't really seen him take notice of his own ramblings before. "Knight now." She teased, moving her finger to the rim of his hat. "Actually I prefer champion." She said, looking away from the Hatter before shaking her head. "No I prefer Marianne." Laughing as she went through the titles she owned and which she preferred. To herself she thought she actually preferred Mary. She really had no idea why she was rambling, sometimes when she was in his company she found herself rambling along with him.

"How about Lady Kingsleigh, knight and champion of Underland, otherwise known as Marianne?"

She laughed: "Yes I like that. A little long, but I like it nonetheless. We'll stick with Marianne." Marianne noticed when they were walking another large table coming into view – this was much different from the little ones pushed together to create the Hare's table. This one was one long table, with a smaller rounder one at the top. Obviously the Hatter sat there as there was a large chair to accompany it. She smiled, it was really – although messy – quite a sight. "So this must be your house." She spoke looking around to see where the building was. When she set eyes on it, it really matched the Hatter quite well. She had seen houses similar in England, but they were usually much bigger. She didn't like big houses, they always made her feel cold inside, and a smaller house was easier to make felt lived in.

As she looked around, she saw the picket fence had little hats on top of the pointed edges, the tiled pave way was multi coloured but dulled from being walked on so much. The house itself was a dirty white colour, with a red roof (this was shaped almost like a top hat). It almost matched the Hatter's head – if that wasn't rude to think. She smiled as she looked towards the Hatter: "And I almost expected the window rims to be green." She smiled, she wasn't being sarcastic or rude – in fact she would have found it quite fitting if they were. Green to match his eyes, would have been rather fetching if the rims were white (as they were) but the windows to be stained green, then it would have matched exactly how she viewed the Hatter's appearance. It was a tall house, not like one a child would draw when drawing their first house. A child would draw a square with a triangle roof, and the Hatter's house was almost like a long rectangle with a horizontal rectangle and a square to make that almost top hat like roof.

There were bushes around the house, which was expected, they were in a woodland area – and next to the house was a large tree – and many other trees scattered here and there. Marianne could also see, turned away from the house that the old windmill where the Hare lived wasn't actually that far away – it was in plain sight. No wonder they could have late night parties and not worry about anyone getting lost to get home. "I really… it's just wonderful." She spoke realising she actually preferred being here than the grandeur of the palace. The palace reminded her of being home 'yes miss, no miss, let me get that for you miss.' She wasn't like that – she didn't want to be like that. She wanted somewhere that felt like a home. That and she wouldn't want a hundred people walking around her home and waiting on her hand and foot.

Marianne made her way over to the table. Amongst the mess of broken teapots, cracked teacups, stale buns, cutlery and random splashes of now cold tea, was a pink and blue table cloth. She was amazed at the design; it fitted the Hatter's personality exactly as she would have said his personality was. She wondered if Alice had ever been here – because she had remembered that when she met the Hatter and had their tea parties that it had been at the Hare's house. She didn't care, she didn't even ask, curious or not, she wanted to have this tea party. Thackery dashed into the Hatter's house and a light went on. She heard the rushing of water and expected the hare was making fresh tea for the party.

"Ye can sit here."

She turned looking at the Hatter who had pulled out a seat next to his almost throne and smiled, nodding her head. "Okay." Marianne made her way over, taking her seat, as she glanced across to see Mally making herself comfortable in a teapot. She sure liked teapots. "You don't have a house?" Mally corrected her, quite abruptly, declaring that the teapot was her house. Marianne moved her elbow onto the table, placing her head upon her hand and sulked. There was no getting through to the dormouse. She just didn't seem to like her very much. She wanted Mally to like her, but it didn't seem to be working. Marianne's eyes looked to the window of the Hatter's house and she could see Thackery jumping up and down getting everything prepared.

Soon Mally was snoring and she smiled. The dormouse might not like her, but Marianne was starting to hold a soft spot for her. "Was she a little grumpy because she was tired?"

The Hatter, who was setting through the task of finding a clean teacup for Marianne, (which included throwing half full cups over his shoulders, with a crash to the ground) nodded his head as a reply. She smiled as she watched him, he sure was a character – just like Mally and Thackery. She moved herself to sit straight as she found a teacup placed in front of her. White with little blue stripes, it was perfect. She smiled looking to him as he moved to sit beside her. Moving as Thackery made his appearance with a pan full of boiling water which he placed into a teapot – much to Marianne's gladness that it wasn't the one that Mally was snoozing inside.

It was Hatter that started pouring out the tea before banging his hand against the teapot Mally was in to wake her up. "Tea time, Mally." Marianne heard the tiny groan of disproval before the top of Mally's head came popping up over the rim of the teapot. The mouse crawled out of the teapot and placed herself on her tiny seat made out of a pile of books. She looked so cute. Marianne watched Mally threw sugar cubes around the table, landing in each of the cups without fail. Marianne watched her with a look of surprise – Mally had never missed a single cup, which was so impressive to her.

"You're good at that."

Years of practice, noticeably, then remembering the stories – years of practice wasn't the best expression for Marianne to think of. This was simply because they didn't go through years in their tea parties. It seemed that time stood still for the Hatter and his friends when Alice wasn't there. She wondered if time played along with Marianne being there now. Maybe time was frozen right now and she had no idea about it – which would mean all these weeks she's felt like she's been in Underland, hasn't been ticking away in England. Even though days and nights had come, was it possible the world played along with time? Leaving the characters to be stuck in an ever playing day? Maybe the sky moved through the same day over and over again, which was why daylight seemed to change to night time, but nothing that occurred between the Underlanders stayed the same.

She wasn't sure if she was making sense, but it was possible. If time decided the people wouldn't age, that trying to kill him was such a bad offence, then he could let them stay stuck in the same day over and over. Circumstances changed though – she had been here what seemed days simply because she wasn't doing the same thing over and over again. But, then again, the training, the days she trained seemed to be similar only for the fact she was so bad at it, but she was slowly improving.

The Hatter had moved his hands up as he caught Marianne's attention. "So! We have to toast your knighting." The Hatter moved his teacup up and moved it close to Marianne who in return did the same with hers and the small clink of them moving together to collide softly. Then the same sound as the Hare and Mally did the same thing, but it did not stop there for then there was a crash, as it seemed the Hare had thrown his cup instead of climbing over to Mally on the table. Marianne couldn't help but laugh. She was told she'd enjoy the tea parties if she was ever lucky enough to attend one, but she never thought it would be as fun as this! "To Lady Kingsleigh."

The hare moved a chair closer to Marianne to the next teacup and threw the cold tea over the grass before making himself a fresh brew. "I'm having so much fun." She spoke, as she turned to the Hatter once more. "This is such a relaxing experience after training this morning." She explained. She had felt so stressed out during the session with Sir Rook who had definitely been strict with her. Even with the fact the tea party was fast tracked and on-going, with loud noises and lots of laughter, she found it very relaxing. "I thought I'd never get a moment to myself."

A familiar chuckle arose from the Hatter. Marianne moved her hands to a slice of toast before picking at it and eating what she tore away. The Hatter chatted away with her for a while. Her tea was soon finished – thankfully too because Mally had fallen asleep into the teacup. The Hare was back in the Hatter's house and she could hear crashing and was wondering why the Hatter didn't seem to mind the Hare was breaking things in his home. She let it slide as she stood up from the table and moved back, leaning against it, her eyes watching Thackery. "I should be heading back before it gets too dark, I just wish I paid more attention to the way we came than to Tha-… the Hare."

"I'll take ye back." Marianne shook her head whilst the Hatter rose from his seat. She didn't want him to take her to the palace only to come back here. It felt stupid for him to do such a thing. Just to make sure she got home. "Ye kin stay 'ere and I can take ye back to the palace in the morning. I'm there first thing." Marianne looked towards the house and then towards the Hatter, it didn't seem like Thackery would be heading home either tonight so it wasn't like she'd be imposing, although in some way she felt like she was for the fact he probably dealt with the hare and dormouse for company many nights, just not… not her.

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><p>"I mean, are you sure?"<p>

Marianne asked as she found herself being led up the garden path, her wrist held by the Hatter's. She gained an 'aye' in reply from him as he pushed the door open and dragged her inside. She looked around at the very messy house. What had she expected though, with the state of the table? She had guessed when one could be off making hats, or having tea parties there would never be time for cleaning. Okay, it wasn't messy giving it a second look – it was just… organised chaos. There wasn't any dirt.

From entering the house there was a long hallway, the door to the left led to the kitchen, there was a staircase, and then a door to the right that led to the living room. She found herself dragged upstairs, as the Hatter kicked away things that were lying on the steps. That was quite dangerous, but at least there was a route down them? Top level, from what she could see as all but one door was closed, was a bathroom and then the three closed doors. She looked towards the Hatter.

"How about a tour?" She thought that was what she was getting though. He moved to the first closed door, opened it wildly and inside she saw it was a work room for him. There was a mannequin and many hats lying around. It was quite messy – but organised at the same time – she could tell that the Hatter would be able to know where everything was. "Careful if ye go in there though, lost a pincushion the other day." Or maybe not. He seemed awfully calm in his mind right now though, Marianne had noticed that much.

Next room she was dragged to was a bedroom. She looked around at the mass shades of different colours. There was a large double bed that she was amazed would have fit in here upon first glance into the room! It was like the rest of the house a little disorganised, with a wardrobe, table and the window looking out behind the house and into the forest. This was the Hatter's bedroom. She had guessed this because of the fact the bed was unmade, and the homemade patchwork cover was lying half across the bed and floor. It was recently used. She smiled glancing back at the Hatter who had disappeared.

Making her way out of the bedroom she found him looking into the last room. She made her way over and saw that it was another bedroom, but this time, it was the tidiest of all the rooms. "Wow." Was all she could express at the view that she saw. There was another double bed, even though the room was smaller than the one she was in before. How in Underland did they ever get the bed to fit in here? She never would have expected it, but maybe it was a magic house, that was possible. The walls were a pale blue with black roses painted on. The floor was covered with a white carpet and the bed was white with black sheets with a pale blue stitched pattern. The room screamed Marmoreal, but it screamed something else but Marianne couldn't place her finger on what it was.

"I decorated this room for Alice's return."

That was it. It screamed Alice. He did have feelings for Alice, she knew he had. She could tell by the way he reacted whenever Alice was mentioned. Those feelings had to have been mutual at one point, the way her grandmother had talked about him – it made sense for that to be true. Then again, she somewhat felt whenever she spoke to Raven about the Hatter she almost sounded the same way Alice had. Whatever that meant, Marianne had no idea why, she just liked talking and remembering the Hatter when she wasn't in his company.

"She would have loved this, Hatter." Marianne spoke as she moved her hand onto his arm. "I'm not just saying that, either." She knew her grandmother loved the colour blue – when she got married to her grandfather her dress was white, but she had many a blue objects on her. Marianne still had one of the jewellery pieces. Alice had given it to her to wear. Her eyes glanced down onto the ring on her finger, it was silver with a blue diamond in the centre, simple, but elegant at the same time. "She loved simplicity and she adored the colour blue." She already knew that the Hatter knew of Alice's fondness of the colour blue though. "I myself, I think the roses are beautiful." She wondered if he had painted them on himself.

"This room is fit for a Kingsleigh, any Kingsleigh, Alice Kingsleigh, Marianne Kingsleigh, so you, a Kingsleigh, must use it."

There he goes again, but Marianne didn't mind his outbursts as much as she used to. She found herself in the bedroom as she turned to face him. She would be back in the palace after tonight, but she already liked this bedroom far more than the one she had been living in. "Okay." She agreed. "I'll stay the night – but – only if you're sure." She kept assuring herself that the Hatter wanted her to stay the night. It wasn't as if she was staying in his bedroom, or sleeping in his bed, leaving him to the couch. Marianne wondered if Mirana would have known if she was here. The Queen seemed to be in contact with everything about Underland.

"You know about the ball, this weekend?" She changed the subject, taking a seat on the bed as she looked upon the Hatter. "I can't dance." She finally told someone. He laughed, telling her everyone can dance. "I was thinking I'll have to get a dance teacher, but knowing my luck I'll end up with Mally." She joked. The Hatter raised his hand like he had an idea, waved it in the air and turned on his feet.

"What a marvellous idea, Mally would be perfect!" Wait, what? Mally? She wasn't serious – she had been joking. The mouse couldn't teach her how to dance – besides, Mally was tiny compared to her, and she didn't seem like the type of character to like dancing, let alone teach someone how to dance. As comical as it would be – if the Hatter just wanted a laugh… he was gone. She was too late to stop him. Dammit. She had been told that the mouse enjoyed the Hatter's dancing – she knew he did a dance himself, but she wouldn't have asked him to teach her – for that would have been very, very, very embarrassing for her. That would have been more embarrassing than being taught by Mally.

She sighed and placed her hands together in her lap as she leant back on the bed. Her ponytail was digging into the back of her head as she closed her eyes. "Do they expect me to shrink overnight?"

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><p><strong>Authors Note:<strong> This chapter, I'm much happier with than the last chapter. This one was to introduce us to my vision of what the Hatter's house would be like, as it will be playing a big part in my fan-fiction, and I'll end up using the same idea of the house in any Halice fan-fiction I write in the future. I knew from the start that her dancing problem would end up bringing Mally into it, because I thought it would be hilarious at the idea. I can't wait to get into the next chapter, for the Mally, Marianne and Mirana interaction that I've got planned [the three Ms haha] and I hope you liked the little bit of Marianne and Hatter in this chapter. I think I enjoyed writing Thackery the most. I hope I kept the characters in character! Thank you all for the reviews, alerts and favourites as always and I hope you keep reading :D


	12. Chapter 12

_**Chapter Twelve**_

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><p>Marianne woke up that morning in the bedroom Hatter had designed for her grandmother. She knew Alice would have been thrilled with the room and hoped one day that she could bring her back from England to see it. She knew that Alice would be amazed to hear Marianne was here, and hoped that she would one day be able to bring Alice to see how different Underland might be now.<p>

The Hatter took her from his house and back to the palace. This time she watched where she was going. Knowing that she would one day want to go see the Hatter in his home once more – and hopefully even the Hare's as she knew that the parties were held in one of the two venues. The Hatter went to work and Marianne went to get changed from the clothes she had been wearing the night before.

"Well, Miss, I was quite shocked to see you weren't here last night."

Raven spoke to her. Marianne then looked towards the maid and nodded her head. She apologised for that before sitting down on the bed and watched as Raven picked out the dress for Marianne to wear. It was one of the dresses the many tailors and dressmakers had designed for her the first weekend she arrived in Underland. The colours were beautiful, almost the shades of a peacocks' feathers. This only made Marianne think of the Hatter – after all in his hat he had a peacock feather proudly in display.

Marianne had heard once though, that having peacock feathers in your house would be considered bad luck! She thought maybe luck was different here in Underland. Maybe those things were lucky here in Underland. The superstitions she had heard in England. Maybe having a black cat around was good luck – as well as breaking mirrors. She shuddered at the thought of that – she wouldn't want to break a mirror, because if she had broken the mirror she would never get home. Then again, there were many mirrors and maybe any mirror would help her home. Again, it could have been considered good luck if she broke the mirror and couldn't get back… she would get to stay in this world that way.

In the large dressing room, with the help of Raven, Marianne got changed into the blue dress that had a purple see through layer over her arms. This see-through material was also used as a second layer on the skirt. There was a large sheet of material around the waist, like a belt, it was green in colour and flowed down over her hips, it was comfortable and even the corset underneath it wasn't tight enough to make her struggle to breathe. She smiled as she turned towards Raven once she was dressed and thanked her for helping her. Marianne then moved to the table and picked up the hairbrush before letting her hair fall from the ponytail it had been in from earlier and started to brush her hair. Raven offered to do that for her, but Marianne declined.

"Were you off having fun?" She was asked, Marianne explained she had gone to have tea with the Hatter and that it was too late for her to return home. She didn't tell the maid anything more than that, but she knew that she could have come up with her own decisions on what had happened the night before. Marianne didn't mind, Raven seemed a nice enough girl. Then again she had to be nice to her – Marianne knew nothing about what Raven might have been like without all the pleasantries of Mirana's court rules. "Her majesty is waiting for her you in one of her dancing halls miss." Raven informed her as she mind flashed back to the night before where it was arranged for Mally to help Marianne to dance.

A hesitated laugh left her lips as she nodded her head. "This is going to be fun." She explained, wondering why the queen herself would have made an appearance. She wondered just how Mally could help her with this, because it was going to be quite… embarrassing enough. Especially with the fact that Mally was barely the height of her index finger. Marianne thought over just how awkward it would be. Also, what if the Hatter had decided it would be a laugh and then came along to watch? That wouldn't just be embarrassing, that would be a 'kill me now, moment'.

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><p>She made her way to the hall, after being pointed the way by a few members of the queen's court. She had thought she knew this palace inside out by now, obviously not. She closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath and pushed the large doors open to make her way inside. She knew exactly what to expect because she had been nervously dreading through all the possibilities on her walk here. She looked upon her… audience at her dance lesson.<p>

Mirana, her majesty – she was there, holding some sort of bottle that had a binding with a note saying 'drink me'. The dormouse looking as thrilled to be there as Marianne was, and the Hatter was there. She sighed, she knew he would be – he was the one that informed Mally of what Marianne had said. Well if he had told Mally that she didn't really want her to teach her, no wonder Mally didn't look pleased. She smiled raising an eyebrow as she made her way over.

"Your majesty." She bowed, as she stood back up straight and shot a look at the Hatter who had Mally on his shoulder. "I can't say I expected you to be here, Hatter." She smiled as she looked to him and then to Mally who had her arms crossed and her tiny little pin sword still connected to her belt. "Sorry about this." She looked towards Mirana who had moved the bottle forward. Marianne laughed looking at it, but this wasn't her normal laugh. "No way, I know what's in that, I'm not drinking it." She spoke remembering Alice's tale.

Drinking the 'drink me' potion made you shrink to a certain size depending on how much you swallow. It was something that really caught Marianne's attention when she first heard about it. Then when she started growing up Alice would list of what she remembered Mirana putting into the potion to shrink her when she was too big. Marianne was a little disgusted. Buttered fingers or something along the lines of that… She couldn't believe though, at the same time, she had just said that she wasn't going to do something the queen wanted her to do.

"I can't have my champion not dancing at the ball, Marianne."

She sighed, she guessed that was true. Marianne took the bottle from the queen, giving a look of disgust and she hadn't even drunk it yet. Her eyes looked back towards the queen as she then looked towards the Hatter. He must have been the one who had told the queen about this. Why couldn't she have just done this dancing lesson when she was at the Hatter's house? "I will teach you myself." Her eyes looked up towards the queen as she rose an eyebrow elegantly – something she had been doing an awful lot, she seemed to find herself asking a lot of mental questions. Mirana wanted to teach her to dance it seemed. "I am well known for being a beautiful dancer – and the Hatter himself too."

"Then why did you…" Marianne asked, moving the drink me bottle up to show it to the queen. The queen beamed as she then spoke saying that her champion must always carry a bottle in case of emergencies. Now Marianne felt stupid – the Hatter had fooled her, hadn't he. Did he do it intentionally? He had told Mirana about her problem and now Marianne had to deal with dancing in front of the queen. "So… how are we going to do this?" She asked, the queen turned around and headed towards the band that she had gotten to play for them. She was causing so much of a problem. She shouldn't have said anything in the first place.

Marianne looked at the Hatter who was giving her a queer look. What… did she have something on her face? Marianne glanced down to see her arms were quite… up. Similar to the way Mirana was holding hers. She gave a shocked look as she moved her hands back behind her back, clutching her fingers in each other. She must have been subconsciously mimicking her majesty's unique habit without realising. Hatter gave her a small laugh. Mally jumped down off his shoulder and onto the table beside them, as Marianne moved the drink me potion down and looked towards the dormouse.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Marianne leant in close. She was so shocked to have been doing something without realising. "I don't know!" Oh dear, what if the queen had realised, would she have been offended? Oh god… Marianne turned to see Mirana who had signalled for the band to start playing and was there standing before them, in all her glory, without any look of distrust or being disrespected on her face. She hadn't noticed. Phew. Marianne gave an awkward smile as she tried to find her composure. She didn't know how this dance lesson was going to go, but she was here in a dress, with heeled shoes. These were two things that when included with Marianne shouldn't go together when it came to dancing.

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><p>Mirana glided her way over to Marianne and took her hands. Then she pulled her forward to the open space away from their audience of the Hatter and dormouse. "Back straight, my champion." She spoke, moving one of her always floating hands to the small of Marianne's back and straightening her stance. "Much better." She spoke, ignoring the shocked expression on the dark haired girl's face. The music that was being played was slow – most likely a ballad, how Mirana loved ballads.<p>

She herself loved dancing, and any chance to dance she would most definitely go for it. She also loved showing just how talented she was. So teaching someone else the art of dance, she would be thrilled to do so. It was just her cup of tea. "Now place your hand here." She spoke, not even giving Marianne the chance to do so herself. Mirana had placed Marianne's hand onto her shoulder. "We shall teach you the Marmoreal waltz." She nodded her head deciding that would be the best place to start.

Mirana had no idea what dancing in England would be like, but it couldn't have been much different than it would be here in Underland. The only difference was that it most likely wouldn't have been seen normal for two women to dance together. Mirana didn't mind such a thing – for the fact, well it was her that was dancing and she should be allowed to dance with whoever she wanted! For if she couldn't dance with her champion. Then what would be about all the stories of princesses dancing with their princes or their knights in shining armour?

It was the same thing. Mirana started to whirl their way around the dance floor. She skimmed across the floor with ease. Mirana had been taught how to dance since she was little, by her parents. She had instantly noticed that while she glided and whirled and danced with such elegancy and grace – it wasn't the same for the girl she was leading. Marianne seemed to have been glancing down at her feet trying to make sure she wouldn't lose her footing. Mirana could instantly tell that there was doubt in the back of her champion's mind. A wicked smile came across Mirana's dark lips as she moved, spiralling wilder, catching Marianne's eye as she looked upon her with astonishment.

"Do not look at your feet. You will only be more likely to trip up that way."

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><p>With the sight going on in front of them the Hatter could not help but let a laugh come from his lips. He knew how wild dancing in Underland could be – after all, the Futterwacken was quite crazy and mad. Then again, he had learned to perfect that and would be considered one of the best. Mirana might be one of the few people in Underland who would not personally Futterwack, she enjoyed watching them do that dance – but she was the most graceful and beautiful dancer in Underland – this was why he had suggested to Mally to bring Marianne to her. He hadn't said to Marianne that he would go to Mirana. The Hatter had said that Mally would be perfect, for she would know exactly where to take Marianne to learn to dance.<p>

Marianne said she couldn't dance – the Hatter had to disagree. She may not be the most graceful, and quite clumsy, but she was a better sight than Thackery. She had yet to fall, the thing she had been muttering under her breath earlier. She had thought he hadn't heard – he had, he just said nothing for his mind was going through other things at that time. There was a squeal, and that caught the Hatter's attention and he found that Marianne had been spun out way from the queen. The girl had been spun so energetically and wildly that Marianne had ended up hitting the wall and ending up in a heap on the floor.

"I'm very sorry, Marianne. I didn't know just how excited I got there." The queen spoke, the Hatter couldn't help but laugh as Marianne got herself up and brushed down her dress. She wasn't as good as dancer as their majesty but she was as good as average. There was no such thing as being perfect at anything in Underland. Why would you thrive to be perfect when you can enjoy making mistakes and laughing with others about them? It wouldn't be the first time that the queen would end up throwing a suitor to the wall wildly in her antics. It would most certainly not be the last time.

This was not to say that Marianne was the queen's suitor. Of course not, they were both women and that would be… well it was known in Underland for relationships to take the form of many shapes… that was for sure, but he would not say Marianne would become the White Queen's suitor. After all, she was… then again Champions were known to become romantic leads for the queen they served. Would that have meant Alice was… no of course not, Alice would not have – and neither will Marianne. She was simply being taught how to dance. The Hatter was certainly going gallymoggers after all. It was his idea to bring Marianne's dance dilemma to the queen's attention.

As the dancing continued, the Hatter disappeared from the main hall. He had work to do, a hare to calm in the kitchen and a dormouse who was the least impressed with the dancing going on. He should have known – Mally would rather go around stabbing the eyes out of bandersnatches than dance with Marianne. She didn't seem to be too fond of the newcomer – but she wasn't too thrilled with Alice to start with either. It would change, Mally became affectionate of Alice and she would become affectionate of Marianne as well.

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><p>She was dizzy. Marianne was utterly, completely, undeniably dizzy. Her head spun – and she could have been certain that she was imagining that birds were flying around her to indicate this. "I… I think that's enough for now…" Marianne suggested towards the queen who was giggling in a sweet way with her hands clasped at her chest. She could have imagined being taught how to dance by anyone but… but by the queen herself? Although she knew that the queen was the most impressive dancer in Underland, Marianne didn't feel like it was worthy for her to be the one to teach her. She didn't deserve it.<p>

"You do not need lessons, Marianne. You will fit right in with all of us at the ball."

That was hardly likely, but Marianne wasn't going to fight back against the queen and nodded her head. She was just scared of making a fool of herself – and yes, well she had done that, she had been pulled here and there, tripped over her dress and even spun so wildly that she hit a wall! No one rolled eyes, no one scoffed and no one whispered how terrible she was under their breath. Yes, she was definitely happier here. This world and the society of Mirana's court ran a lot more smoothly and was lenient compared to that of the society she was grown up in.

"I… I… t-thank you, your majesty." She bowed in respect, gaining another tutting noise from Mirana who certainly didn't seem to like her champion and now knight bowing or curtseying at her. She knew that the queen didn't want it, but she couldn't help herself, it was a sign of respect and Marianne did respect the white queen. She was still struggling to find her words through the fact she still felt like the world was spinning so rapidly around her. She took a seat next to the table they were standing before earlier and her fingers slid across the form of the bottle as she tilted it. "That was a lot more fun than I expected." She confessed – she didn't expect to be laughing, giggling and having fun at a dance lesson. It was far different to those she had had as a child.

"It is not every day that you have the honour to dance with me." The queen was teasing her. Where in England would you get the chance to dance with a queen that considered you a friend? Only in Underland would that be possible. Marianne smiled as she looked up at the queen and nodded her head. She was surprised that the queen who always seemed to have so many royal duties to do had the time to dance with her today. She would have to remember to have words with the Hatter for the heart attack that she almost had earlier at the idea of a dance lesson in the first place. She had noticed his disappearance, it was hard not to. When you spend most of your time thinking of someone and they're there one moment and gone the next, it's hard not to notice.

Wait.

She wasn't thinking of him all the time, why would she… oh forget it, she was arguing with her herself and that wasn't going to help matters. She herself knew that she was growing more and more fonder of the Hatter each and every day. Though it wasn't like she wasn't doing the same with every other Underlander she came across. They were all so special and unique. She felt herself going madder by the day just being around them. She couldn't stop and she didn't mind it at all. She would rather be mad in comparison to other mad people than be mad and then shunned in prospect of normal people. Those people she grew up with that didn't see mad as an ideal personality choice.

The white rabbit came in and told the queen of her next duty. It seemed that she had neglected them through teaching Marianne how to dance. He didn't exactly say that – but Marianne could tell. She smiled and got up from the seat to say her goodbye to the queen who floated off ahead of the rabbit who was struggling to keep up. Marianne took the bottle from the table and made her way back to her bedroom to put it away in the drawer of her dressing table. She would have another lesson today – this time a lesson in swordsmanship once more. She was feeling a lot higher in spirits over lessons.

She had started to enjoy them.

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><p>Marianne's mind was clouded since she had started the training session. Sure she was starting to enjoy them, but she had unexpectedly remembered her dream of the hydra. What if it was to be the hydra that she would have to slay to save Marmoreal? She was suddenly quite scared and didn't know if to tell Mirana or anyone else for that matter about her dream. The fact the dream, memory, was still vivid in her mind had to mean something. She never remembered her dreams. That was if she dreamt at all. She only remembered two of her latest dreams and they had somewhat foresaw the future. Her dreams had foreseen her future in Underland both times.<p>

The first time she had dreamt of the Cheshire cat, and then before she knew it she was in Underland and the first creature she had met was the cat. That had to be connected, if she could remember it. More so, she was shocked that she could even remember it when she was in England. She just… she never dreamt – maybe that was what it was? Before now she never dreamt and because she was close to going to Underland she could start dreaming. That had to be it – she was sure of it. The second dream was similar to the fact she dreamt of the Hydra, and her grandparents. Her grandmother she was missing and a hydra. The dream of her memory would make sense though - if the hydra was the beast.

She decided that she would see Mirana tomorrow. She would tell her of her dream and ask what it could have meant. If there was anyone connected to Underland enough to tell her if it were true or even somewhat possible – it would be Mirana. Marianne finished her lesson – it was over before she had even considered it started. This was for the fact she had been thinking throughout the whole session about the hydra. She couldn't recall if she landed any hits or if she was hit by the sword of Sir Rook either. It was when walking back to her bedroom that she realised she had been hit a few times with some markings on the armour.

Marianne pushed the door open to her bedroom and no one was inside. There were no maids there, pity. She had started to enjoy talking to Raven. She always had an eager ear to anything that had been going on in Marianne's day. Then again, she was probably paid to be attentive to Marianne in every way. This was probably including being enthusiastic over her day. Moving herself onto the bed, she looked around the room. The dress she had previously been wearing that morning laid out on a hanger across the door to the closet. This room was so grand, but she couldn't help but think of that room that was designed for Alice. She really enjoyed being in there because it felt more homely. When she was in this bedroom, she always felt like she was away from home on holiday and in a hotel or something.

In the Hatter's house, in that room, Marianne felt more at home. She felt almost as if she was meant to be there for some reason. She felt terrible saying that, for the palace was of course the home of Mirana and she would feel at home there. Marianne wasn't royalty though – and even when she was at home in England in that large house, she always felt it to be cold and drab and somewhat unwelcoming. She would have just been happy if she was in a small house like the Hatter's. Well it was small compared to the palace and compared to the one she had been in all her life. Wondering to herself over why she enjoyed her stay there, she closed her eyes, leaning on the bed. The ball was coming ever closer, which meant the day of reckoning with the hydra, she had decided to say it was because it made the fact she was slaying something more real, was coming closer too.

She might die for Underland, but she was prepared for it. She knew she wasn't the best swordswoman but she was determined for now. After all the training, meeting all the people and starting to feel one with Underland herself, she was determined to do her best. Maybe, just maybe, her best would be enough. The same thought that had come into her mind had found its way there again – what if she couldn't return to Underland now that she had made an oath to protect Mirana and Underland as a knight? Then again, she wasn't sure if that was what she wanted – she really didn't know if she wanted to stay or go. No one was asking her to stay, and no one was telling her to go. It seemed it really was her own decision and if that day would come to make a decision… she just didn't know what path she would choose.

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Another chapter down and I know nothing exciting has been happening yet, but these are just filler chapters that I feel I personally need to develop Marianne and her relationships with the Underlanders. I also feel I'm enjoying this story more and more by each chapter and I hope that it is the same for all of you that are reading. The next chapter is more of me getting into Mirana's character, the Cheshire cat re-appears and Marianne finally tells Mirana about the dream with the hydra. I can't wait to write it! As always thanks to _everyone_ who reviewed, it means a lot to me to know that other people enjoy this as much as I do. :)


	13. Chapter 13

_**Chapter Thirteen**_

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><p>The White Queen, Mirana herself, was spending the day in her gardens as she didn't have any royal duties to fill up her morning. She was thrilled with this, for she enjoyed having time to herself as well as spending time with her court. As she glided her way over to the pond that she had watched her champion become bathed in, she knelt down, not caring if her dress were to get dirty and moved her fingers to the water where there were fish floating around.<p>

A small shiny silver fish moved towards one of her black painted fingernails and Mirana slid her finger along it. She had to be the only one in any world who fish would let stroke them. The fish spoke. Mirana looked down and listened to it. Mirana couldn't help smiling as it was enjoying its morning swim as much as she was enjoying her relaxation period. "Do not let me disturb you then. Swim along little one." Her arms never fell from their position as she looked around, her long white hair falling down her back.

She could hear footsteps. Someone was coming, getting closer and closer. Mirana wondered who it would be to disturb her even though she wasn't doing anything important. The queen moved from her kneeling position and elegantly got back to her feet without any swaying. She had the best posture, stance and grace in all of Underland, and that, Mirana was proud of. It would mean that she would make her mother proud – God rest her soul.

"Your majesty?"

Mirana's eyes met with those of her champion and her dark lips curved. Her hands placed themselves onto the top of Marianne's arms as she turned and then led her towards the bench where she had previously been sitting before she went to the pond. "Yes, how can I help you this beautiful morning, Lady Kingsleigh?" She so did enjoy the fact Marianne was now one of her own personal knights. Most of her knights were just chess pieces not that that meant they weren't as important – but none of them were also Underland's champion.

"I have to talk to you about the slaying."

Mirana frowned. She did not want to talk about such a thing on a beautiful day. The trees and the rest of Underland had yet to be co-operative and that really annoyed the queen. Who was Mirana to dismiss such conversation though? She was the queen – and it was her champion. Her champion was the one who the time of slaying was all about. She could not tell her not to talk about such things when they could talk about how sunny this morning was. "What is it?" Her expression didn't change, but her voice was a little more depressive, sulky, as if obvious she did not want to hold this conversation.

She somewhat hoped that Marianne would take the hint, but her champion didn't. This must have been really important then. Mirana's elbows kept digging into the fabric of her dress as she moved one of her floating hands towards Marianne's hair and tucked the strands of her black hair behind her ear. Marianne didn't flinch, she liked that, and Alice was the same. Some people didn't like strangers to touch them. Yet she wasn't any stranger – she was the queen and she had thought she had come to know Marianne quite well by now.

"I had a dream, your majesty."

This caught Mirana's attention. She knew that dreams couldn't be much to lead on, but it was interesting. Marianne had once told her about how she was different from Alice for the fact she didn't remember her dreams – or dreamt at all. That was different compared to Alice who had dreamt of Underland many a times. Mirana parted her lips, feeling her breath get caught in the back of her throat. This was telling her that the dream was more than a dream and she was worried about where this dream was going. "Tell me."

It seemed Marianne's eyes were no longer looking at Mirana as if she was nervous in what she was about to say. When she started explaining, it was obvious in the stutter. "W-Well… y-you see. The dream started off like any old dream… I was remembering my grandparents and a lesson with my… my grandfather that was about…" She stopped talking. Mirana pouted her lips, looking towards her champion, she had been listening intently and still had no idea what had seemed to frighten Marianne. That was if frightened was the right word to use, she wasn't sure if Marianne really was scared. Scared of this dream – or frightened of Mirana herself, either way.

"Tell me more." Mirana seemed less varied in word choice as she leant herself closer to hear clearer, although could hear just fine before. The queen and her champion were so close that her hair had fallen forth and almost mingled together with the curls of Marianne's. Not only was she excited that she might find out the name of this creature, but Mirana was also worried for the state her champion was now in. She had seemed to be getting on well with her training, and the day before they had had such fun together with that dance lesson. She didn't want Marianne to retreat back into her shell.

"It was the story of Heracles and the hydra." As Marianne explained Mirana recalled the Greek myths. This might have been Underland, but what were myths to England were legends to Underland. This might not be easy to understand, as of course Underland wasn't Greece, but they had their gods, they had their own beasts. They were almost a variation of the Greek and Roman myths. Of course Heracles wouldn't be what seemed to ail Marianne so much. Mirana had guessed it would be the hydra. She moved up from the bench, her arms ever up as she turned towards Marianne with her voice soft.

"So it now has a name. The Hydra."

Mirana moved a hand towards Marianne and helped her to stand. "Do not fret, Marianne. We now have more of a chance of understanding how to win this upcoming battle." Of course, by we Mirana meant her, because Marianne was the champion and as always when champions were in battle – no one could help them for interference would cause war. When it was one-on-one though, like this hydra battle with Marianne, it would be even harder to interfere. This was for Marianne would be the only one near the hydra at the time. No one could accompany her, no one could help. It would be Marianne with the champion armour, shield and the vorpal sword.

"I would also say that this is becoming more of a fact than a rumour."

"A rumour?"

"Up to now the upcoming battle has just been a slight story on the breeze of Underland. It became more and more tangible as the days came by. With your dream I would have to say – we will have death and destruction at our doorsteps if you don't succeed."

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><p>Now that made Marianne less nervous. She was being sarcastic, obviously. She didn't want to fail and leave the people of Marmoreal to die. As much as Marianne wanted to help, the more she worried the more nervous and by the more nervous the more self-conscious of herself she became. What if she wasn't good enough? Even by all this training, she didn't feel ready to come face to face with the hydra.<p>

"Don't worry as of yet. The date has not been set, when that day comes, that is when we should all worry." Mirana wasn't making this any easier on Marianne but she probably just wasn't thinking. The queen seemed to be so forward with her thoughts. It was almost as if she didn't think before she said them. Although, at the same time there was a hint of compassion, care and worry in her voice, that comforted Marianne at the same time. "We will keep preparing ourselves and when the day comes, we know you will save us." Marianne nodded her head, what else could she do? She had done enough arguing that she wasn't the one already.

"Even if you do not believe in yourself" So the queen had noticed the air of nerves and scare around Marianne "You have all of Underland behind you. You also have my belief that you can do this." Actually, that was comforting. She might have always felt like everyone else believed in her, and a few had said that – but hearing it from a source such as the queen, with her smile and soft expression, she now felt it more. It was more concrete in her mind that she had their support – so with that support, she just might be able to do this after all. It was scary though. She found it scary at how easy she could find herself be so ready to do this one moment and then back to the unready petrified girl she was when she first heard about the slaying.

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><p>Mirana's eyes followed her champion as she left her company and headed towards the palace once more. Mirana now knew the threat. It was going to be easier to learn how to defeat it. The hydra would be different from what Marianne had believed. She had learned of Greek myths concerning the creature, but she did not know of Underland myths. She would have to learn that soon as part of her training. She would find the ideal person to teach that to her. Right now her mind was thinking Nivens McTwisp would be the rabbit for the job – if he would turn up on time.<p>

"**She is getting there, slowly, but surely."**

The voice came out of nowhere but the queen merely smiled, nodding her head. "Yes, we can see her change in front of our eyes. She is becoming much like her grandmother." Her eyes darted in the direction of the voice. "I have a favour to ask of you, Chessur." Mirana watched as the then invisible Cheshire cat started to appear piece by piece until he was there floating before her. The cat nodded his head, grin still glued on his face as ever. "Keep an eye on her. She has got to be the one with the pure heart."

"**You don't sound so sure, your majesty."**

Mirana flashed a wicked look towards the cat, which drifted back a couple of paces from her. He apologised. The queen was always sure in everything she said, which was what scared her. She was sure that Marianne was the only one pure of heart enough to do this because there was no one else that she could think of. She did not have Alice here, and she would only have been her other choice. Marianne was her granddaughter that had to make her just as good as Alice.

The queen moved up from the bench and started to make her way towards the palace. Chessur had disappeared behind her, and reappeared at the palace, leaning on his back paws as if standing and one of his front paws holding against the wall for balance. She shook her head delicately at the sight and smiled towards the cat. "You're the only one who can watch her without being seen." She certainly didn't want to scare Marianne by sending someone she was unfamiliar with to follow her around. Mirana guessed that if Marianne had discovered the cat was following her, that she wouldn't be too worried about it. She seemed to like Chessur.

"**I am at your service, as always."**

The cat bowed in respect before disappearing before Mirana's eyes. Mirana knew that the cat would do what she asked. He always was respectful towards her. No matter what had happened years ago with the Jabberwocky and the Hightopp clan. It was only the cat that knew what really happened, and Mirana had had many years of the cat following her orders and helping her when she needed him. It was those years that mattered to Mirana when it came to Chessur. Mirana made her way towards her bedroom. She would desire a quick nap before her court meeting. She had found it hard to sleep before as she was always trying to figure everything out. Thankfully she might sleep easier now things were becoming clearer.

* * *

><p>Marianne left from her small conversation with the queen. She was now walking towards the palace as she was confused at how easily the queen had taken the news of her dreams. Marianne wondered what Mirana might have thought it meant to the upcoming battle. Marianne actually was more confused than she had been in a while. She would have thought there would be a frantic atmosphere after the beast was named – but no… nothing, just a calm and serene one, much like Mirana herself. Black hair bouncing against her back as she walked, Marianne folded her arms across her body and looked ahead.<p>

"Talk about anti-climactic." The words left her lips before she had really thought of them. She didn't want a cliff-hanger though, she was worried enough and she would most definitely have been scared right now if the queen hadn't taken it so well. Marianne couldn't help but feel almost as if she was being followed. Turning to look over her shoulder as she walked she guessed she must have been wrong because there was no one there.

She shrugged and continued her walk. She was imagining things once again. This wasn't a bad thing. She liked to imagine things and keep her imagination going because she was a creative mind and would feel like she might have been considered boring otherwise. Although, she hadn't thought of the possibility that the Cheshire cat had been sent to follow her, and could have been whirling around, floating nearer and nearer but invisible. She knew that Chessur could be invisible, but it didn't come to her mind that it would have been happening right now.

Marianne had yet to really do anything of significance in her stay here at Underland than become knighted and spend a lot of her time with the Hatter or the queen. She had felt like although she was doing something similar to Alice, time was against her, because Alice's stay at Underland had been much shorter and more dramatic. She wasn't sure if it was a good thing for her, if she was being dragged out in her stay. It would only make her want to stay longer after the fight. Not that she wanted the hydra to attack her anytime soon. It could take its time to appear – she really didn't want to fight it after all. She just knew she had to.

The woman made her way through the palace, looking for something to do. She had trained already. She had said to Raven that she would stay out of her way because the maid wanted to clean up the room. Though Marianne still would have been happy to help her tidy up the bedroom either way. She had said she would stay out of her way because Raven told her no. Apparently being a knight and champion meant she didn't have to keep her own bedroom tidy. Her father could have learned something about that. She should be so lucky. As she remained quiet whilst thinking these thoughts she had found herself at a large library, it was quite the library. She had never seen a room with such beautiful bookcases before.

They were made of white metal, twisted, spiralling to the ceiling, whilst needing a ladder to reach the books near the top. It was two floored, and a grand staircase lead to the upper floor, there were also many tables and lots of pots with flowers. Marianne would never have guessed that this was the library room of the queen because it appeared like one that would be open to the public. It was beautiful though – and she enjoyed reading books herself. Alice had made sure she had unlocked her mind to the joy of reading fiction and non-fiction. Something about her mind being active and yet being able to transport herself into other worlds through literature. Marianne would ever have guessed that one day she would be transported literally to another world.

"**Do you… like reading?"**

The voice came from nowhere. The words were curved so elegantly like a purr and she knew the collected and calm voice anywhere. "It has been known to be a hobby of mine to read books, Chesh." She spoke looking around for any sign of the cat. Chessur must have been following her from the company of the queen. That or he had spotted her walking anywhere from when she was with the queen to when she arrived in the library. She couldn't see anything that gave away where he was hiding though. He must have been thoroughly invisible. Shame, she usually found it quite hilarious when he was only a grin floating around. As Alice had said to her once, she had seen a cat without a grin, but never a grin without a cat. It was something that Marianne never understood until meeting Chessur properly for the first time.

"**Hobby or a distraction?"**

She smiled. That cat had asked her something that was quite surprising. How did he know that she had thought that? When she read it was something that she found diverted her from the world around her. How had he noticed that? "Both?" She returned his question with another as she sat down against the nearest table and looked around for him once more. There was now just a pair of bright cat eyes beside her as she was glad she was sitting down for if she had been standing he'd have shocked her onto the floor. "F-…" She stopped herself from cursing, knowing just how un-lady like it was. She had only ever heard those vulgar boys down the road in England cursing as if it was plain, normal vocabulary. No wonder her father didn't want her to socialise with them.

Those boys reminded her so much in a way to the Tweedles. "Have you been following me?" She asked the floating pair of eyes. Those eyes blinked, and he disappeared fully, before the outline of the cat's head appeared, twisted around, fully in colour and grinned the grin he usually gave everyone. He looked directly at her before speaking in his usual tone: **"You're not nearly interesting enough to follow, love."** How rude, but each to their own opinion. "Yes well I'm not so sure that I'd want to follow you around either." She had no idea where it came from, but there it was. A slight spark inside of her finding a way to the surface, was this possibly the start of her muchness? She shook her head and looked away. "Sorry."

She apologised only for the fact that she knew that she would have enjoyed following Chessur around. For she would have liked have seen where he lived, what he did and just what it was like to be a floating cat. It was certainly different from following around the members of Mirana's court and doing all she had been doing as of late – which was barely nothing more but training. Yet she had forgotten that she had spent that lovely night at the Hatter's. Once recalling that she knew she couldn't let herself forget about that night again. This was for the fact she wasn't sure if she would have a day or night she would enjoy now that the hydra was named and most likely the creature she would face in battle.

"**Snooping around or here looking for a particular book?"**

"Why, do you think you can help me find one?" She asked. Marianne was curious if the Cheshire cat had known where all the books were in this library. Could be helpful though? This was for the fact that Chessur could float higher than where her head was and see the titles of the books above her so she wouldn't have to go up and kill herself by falling off of the ladder and breaking her neck. She was being melodramatic again – but as she hadn't said it aloud, she got away with it. "I just wanted to see if I could find anything out about the hydra." She spoke, before realising what she had said. Was she supposed to keep that between her and the queen? Too late now…

"**I believe her majesty is working on getting you information on that."**

How did he know? Marianne guessed there that that must have been where the cat had noticed her and started following her. She looked towards Chessur before nodding her head. "That's all well and good… but I just wanted to get my head around it." She explained as she pushed herself from the table and looked around the giant library. "… But I wouldn't know where to start and if she has plans to get them for me…. then… I should wait until then?" She asked as she turned towards the cat. Only he was no longer there. Now why, why does he always leave in the middle of questions or when she thought he would be of help? That was so annoying and didn't help at all.

"Thought you were going to help me?"

She asked, spiralling herself around only to see the cat had completely disappeared from the room. That or he was invisible and mocking her. She bit her lip before licking along that lip, shaking her head. She would most likely be here for hours if she were to look around the countless amounts of books on these shelves. If Chessur was right and the queen was going to get her information on that then she would be better off to wait. It would be easier for her to learn about the hydra if the material was given to her directly. Not that she was lazy – it just seemed like a large task for her to go look through millions of books. "Thanks for the help, Chesh." She spoke moving out of the library and heading towards the kitchen. Maybe she'd be some use to Thackery if he was working today. But even that was hardly likely.

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><p>"<strong>It seems Marianne is interested in the hydra. She wants to learn all about it."<strong>

The cat appeared once more before the queen. He had been instructed to follow Marianne – and he had done what he was told to do. The queen was grateful. "You can go back to whatever it was that you were doing before, Cheshire. Thank you for that." She spoke graciously as she gave the cat a stroke. "Thank you for your help." The cat nodded before disappearing once more before her eyes. That was good, Mirana thought. That Marianne was taking things seriously and trying her best to learn things out. The sooner she could get her prepared the better – they were yet to find out the date of the battle but as soon as she was ready, then they would be prepared.

The queen was out on her balcony after a failed attempt of a nap when the cat had appeared to tell her what he had found out about following Marianne. She moved her hands and pushed herself back from looking over the view of her lands before making her way into her grand bedroom and sitting on her bed. She was going to have to try and find out the date of the battle. It was no good wallowing around without a date. If the people of Underland did not have a date, then no one would take things seriously. She was more than certain this was no longer a rumour and wanted evidence to back this up when she next addressed the people of Marmoreal.

Mirana had decided. She would speak to her court, inform them of what they had discovered through Marianne's dream, and then she would go converse with the trees by herself and see what they could tell her about a date. If they couldn't tell her then she would hope that Marianne might gain some more information through her dreams. With the fact Marianne never dreamt before now – and that she had randomly started dreaming in Underland, and so vividly, about a beast, it could be that she was foreseeing the future in some sort of premonition. This idea, if Marianne was receiving premonitions in dreams, only made her more certain of wanting a closer eye kept on Marianne.

She would have to find someone to do that. If it was not Chessur then she would have to try the maids that looked after Marianne's bedroom and made sure Marianne was well cared for. The ball was coming up tomorrow evening and Mirana was excited. She also knew Marianne was ready – and this was all in Marianne's honour so the queen wanted to make sure it all went swimmingly. It was about time that the people of Marmoreal had something to celebrate. Marmoreal, and Underland, having a new champion was definitely something to revel in. She would find out what she could through the trees and then dance the night away.

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>I hope everyone that read the last chapter liked it, and thank you for the review from **Selmalessthanthree** and I hope you're all reading this and enjoying it! Til next time :D


	14. Chapter 14

_**Chapter Fourteen**_

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><p>Tick.<br>Tock.  
>Tick. Tock.<p>

Marianne looked upon the clock on the wall of her bedroom as she smiled softly at the prospect of the ticking meaning one thing. Time was as excited for the ball as everyone else in Underland was. Only, she wasn't sure if she was in fact excited or nervous. It was either that or a mixture of both, and that was definitely possible giving how worked up over the fact she thought she couldn't dance she had gotten. Running her fingers against her chin she looked upon her reflection in the mirror as she looked upon herself. She sure hoped that she looked good enough. Her skin was rough with all the time she had been spending out in the boiling sun, but she tried her best to moisturise.

"Your dress, miss."

Green eyes met Raven at the door. Marianne nodded her head as she glanced over the dress that had been made especially for her for this day. Moving herself up from the dressing table she placed her hand delicately on the soft fabric before taking the hanger. "I can dress myself." She informed Raven, who nodded her head and left her to it. Marianne walked towards her dressing room/closest and hung the dress on the changing screen as she moved her fingers down the fabric once again. It was such a beautiful dress, somehow she felt like she didn't deserve to wear it for the fact it screamed out Marmoreal.

It wasn't a long dress like she was used to at home. She judged that the dress ended three quarters down the legs. Even though it was shorter than most would be used to, it was still very classy. With there being no fabric at her feet, it meant she would not get tangled up in the dress or even end up falling over. She was quite glad of that also. She was sure she wouldn't make an obstacle of herself with this dress. The colour of the dress was pale blue. There was a pattern though that complimented and she thought was perfect for Marmoreal and that was the fact there were the outlines of white roses hand-stitched into the fabric. She somehow felt it suited the ball very well.

Once the dress was on her petite frame she looked upon herself in the mirror. The dress was both off the shoulders and had thin straps to hold it up. There was a sheet of waving material floating over her chest, covering her upper arms. Underneath this to keep her shape was a half corset, in white, it complimented the patterned dress beautifully. With the corset though, she had to have Raven help her with putting that on. She glanced towards Raven with a heated gaze as the corset was quite tightly put on. "What's the point in a good figure if you can't breathe?" She asked, moving her fingers through her long hair.

"Sorry."

There were no pleasantries this time. There was almost a hint of distaste in Raven's voice as if she wasn't too thrilled that Marianne wasn't happy with the way the corset had been put on. Marianne turned around, the dress swerving at her legs before the material brushed against her legs softly. That was when she realised she wasn't wearing the stockings yet. They were almost see-through with a thin layer of blue. She had them put on almost instantly as she glanced around for the shoes that had been picked out for her to wear. She hated wearing heels when dancing – she always had done – but it wouldn't have been ladylike if she didn't.

"You look beautiful."

All these words seemed to have been forcefully sent out of Raven's mouth. Marianne had started to realise why though. These balls just didn't seem to be Raven's cup of tea. She inwardly smiled at her saying. Cup of tea – this just instantly made her think of the Hatter who she hoped would come tonight because she wanted to see if he would dance with her. She was nervous, scared and embarrassed at the idea of dancing in front of people – but she still wanted to ask Hatter for a dance, even if it should be men asking the girls. It was being thrown in her honour and as she was now knighted, that should give her added bonuses in asking a man to dance.

"Will you not be attending the ball?" Marianne asked as she looked towards the brunette maid who shook her head, politely informing her that it wasn't her thing. She had already guessed that though. Marianne sat back beside the dressing table in the main bedroom as she sat and let Raven do her hair. She had never been very good with her own hair. Her hair seemed to have had a mind of its own and hated being held up. With all the pins and grips that Raven brought out, it seemed up it was going. Marianne bit her lip, grimacing as the hair was pulled into place. Raven wasn't being delicate. She moved her hands towards the jewellery box that Mirana had presented her with. Inside the queen had given her a set of earrings especially picked out for the ball.

The design of the earrings was that they had a dropping design. A white rose with then a 'm' design underneath. She guessed if they belonged to Mirana that the first M would have symbolised her name and the second for her other ear Marmoreal. They were so beautiful – and Marianne could have looked at them to mean anything, from even her own name. She must remember to thank the Queen for her generosity. Marianne placed the earrings on by herself. She did not need Raven's help for that. Once they were done, all she had to do was work on her make up. Marianne wanted the make up subtle and natural as she didn't want it to be too out there or noticeable. She didn't want it to be like the white queen's make up although Marianne didn't' think for one moment she would have been able to pass off the black make up that Mirana wore.

"The festivities have started. They're waiting for you."

Raven informed Marianne as she nodded her head as she adjusted the high heeled white shoes as she ran her fingers against the fabric that made them. They were beautiful, and not too much of a heel, but she still wouldn't have chosen any heel to dance on. "Thank you for your help." She thanked Raven as she hoped that she would have seen the maid at the ball, but it didn't seem so. Marianne stood up and made her way from the bedroom hearing the sound of distant music. She guessed the ball had already started. Good, they wouldn't notice her make an entrance if they had started their dancing and too busy paying attention to each other than the door. Marianne made her way to the dance hall that Mirana had picked out for this particular celebration.

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><p>Mirana beamed proud of how all the work she had put into making this ball a success had paid off. Everything was so beautiful. As always the decorations were a pale shade of colour, or white. What else would you expect from the queen of Underland? The queen herself had put a lot of effort, along with her maids and dressmakers, to make sure that she looked the most beautiful woman at the ball. The ball maybe going on to celebrate their champion but she would always make sure that she was looking at least adequate. It wasn't Mirana's fault that everyone would fall in love with her and she would be considered the most beautiful woman in Underland.<p>

"Your majesty?"

She turned to look at McTwisp who was standing on his hind legs in a little white blazer, with a black shirt. She saw the metal ball chain of his watch poking out of his pocket. He looked certainly dashing. Mirana kept her posture, hands up by her shoulders as she knelt down lower to the rabbit. "Yes, McTwisp." The rabbit informed her that Marianne was making her way to the hall. She smiled beautifully as she nodded her head. "Thank you." The queen straightened up as she listened to her court natter on around her.

Her mind had been a little shook up with the news that she had learned when conversing with the trees. It had been stated that spring would bring forth the hydra to Marmoreal. She was glad that she had been giving the time to train Marianne up and now knew what the beast was now that spring was just around the corner. She loved spring, and now it seemed that time of year would be a hard time of year for the people of Underland. Still it was no date, but she wasn't going to worry about that right now. Not with the ball going on around her and their champion, the Lady Kingsleigh, about to make her entrance.

"You look beautiful, our majesty. Simply divine."

One of the women that she often talked to when she was making her daily rounds around the palace greeted Mirana. The woman wore her hair large, over the top of her head, almost like a wig. She had pure white hair, magically dyed of course to fit in with the backgrounds of Marmoreal. She looked pale but she did not have the overstated colourings of make up as the queen had. Mirana thanked the woman. She had picked out which of her dresses to wear herself simply because she knew what she looked best in and knew which would make her stand out from the rest of the women.

Mirana wasn't that vain. She just knew she looked good. Well okay, maybe she was quite vain, but she was a good queen and she was known as the most beautiful woman, so she had a reputation to maintain. She couldn't help it half the time. She had gained her looks from a beautiful gene pool. It was just a shame that her sister had inherited such a large head along the way because Mirana was sure that her older sister would have looked just as beautiful as her if her head was in proportion to her body. That didn't matter now. The Red Queen was in exile now - by Mirana's orders.

The dress that she had picked out was white. It had a very flowing finish by the floor hiding her feet. She wore a petticoat, pale pink, just like the pink of her cheeks. The shoulders and sleeves, which were puffy, were also of the same pale pink, with white bindings to separate the sleeves into sections. She had sparkles all around her dress just to add to the glamour. She wore a prominent corset. She was used to wearing such a thing and still glide around like she was on ice and wearing skates. Her corset was white with pale pink ribbons, and she wore white gloves up to her wrists, but they seemed see-through around her fingertips because her black nails could be seen.

Yes she looked beautiful. She had been complimented many times on the dress and her personal appearance.

Glancing around the many dancing couples, Mirana glided towards her throne to keep an eye on for the champion to arrive so that she could introduce her to the rest of the court as she entered. Mirana would then go and find someone to dance with. She just loved dancing and would find herself with many suitors asking for the chance to spin around the room with her. She felt so honoured to be the object of affection for so many men and even women. Mirana certainly did feel special. She sat down upon her ivory throne and looked towards the opening where the doors were wide apart.

The form of Marianne entering the room made Mirana move her hand up and the large band that had been playing stopped. Silence came around the room and suddenly everyone was looking towards their Champion. Mirana stood up once more and smiled towards Marianne. "I give you, our champion and knight, Lady Kingsleigh." Marianne didn't seem to like everyone's attention on her but Mirana bet that she would soon get used to it. Mirana moved her hands together as she watched everyone clapping at her. She joined in before sitting back down. "Enjoy yourselves. I hope to see fun being had." She gave a knowing look towards Marianne who had previously been scared stiff and nervous at the prospect of dancing in the queen's court.

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><p>'<em>Guess that's me told.'<em>

Marianne guessed the last words of the queen were directed towards her but she smiled slightly and nodded her head. She would enjoy herself and have fun. She intended to, she couldn't just shy away from such occasions. If she kept acting in such a way, what would she be like in the future when she would have big things to celebrate? She couldn't just keep being shy and hide away from balls and dances. It wasn't right. She wasn't Raven – Raven who seemed not to be all into the things like many of the Victorian girls that Marianne had been raised with, or… all the things that Marianne had been raised to like. Marianne enjoyed wearing dresses, dancing. She just… never once liked doing it in front of people. That was changing now.

"Hello."

She walked through the many people chatting away to each other, with glasses of some sort of potion. Or it could have been water… or anything else you could get in England – she guessed Underland couldn't be completely different from the world that she was once accustomed to. Her hand reached for a glass as she moved it to her lips and took a sip. It was something – definitely had a kick to it, so it wasn't plain water. Making her way to find someone to talk to or dance with, her green eyes scanned the room. Everyone had already been stuck in conversation it would be a shame to but in. Where was the Hatter, anyway? She would have enjoyed her asking him to dance.

"**I don't dance, love, so there's no point in asking me."**

Placing her hands onto her hips, she looked around to see where Chessur was now. "I wasn't going to ask you." She replied to thin air, anyone normally would have found her bonkers, but as she was in Underland, she would have been seen perfectly normal. Now there was something that Marianne never would have imagined - Marianne Kingsleigh being seen to the world as perfectly normal. Her eyes met Chessur's as he appeared without any smart fading in or out, or in many parts. Just one full cat grinning ahead at her – well actually there was one thing that he was wearing that she had never seen on him before. Chessur had a little white collar with a black bowtie on. "You look dashing."

"**Flattery will not get me on the dance floor with you."**

He twisted in the air and his tail found its way around her wrist. She raised an eyebrow as she licked along her upper lip eyes directing towards the ceiling. This cat was unreal. "Would you like to dance with me, Chessur?" Perhaps the cat might have enjoyed himself more if he was spending his time popping in and out of this ball waiting for the Hatter to show up simply for the chance of stealing the hat that would have been there too. She wasn't sure, but he kept digging at her to ask him so that was what she did. He didn't even ask her, as soon she found herself getting pulled towards the dance floor, his grip of the tail on her wrist wasn't even tight – she was shocked at how he had so much power over her.

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><p>The Hatter wasn't late to the ball, he was just on time, Hatter time, as it seemed. Time himself wasn't too pleased with him – but was ticking along as if nothing had happened, just maybe at a different speed than to everyone else. Why would it be so difficult for time to forgive him for trying to kill him? He wouldn't understand. He thought that since Alice had arrived and slayed the Jabberwocky things would go back to normal, but nope. In fact, normal it had done. It was normal for the fact that the on-going never stopping tea party had become normal for him and his two friends. Speaking of his friends, Thackery had worked hard on preparing food for today and Mally was just hanging around somewhere.<p>

He was wearing his burgundy jacket, brown pinstriped three quarter length trousers with the flower design, yellow and black chequered shirt with the blue collar. He had thought about wearing his kilt, but opted out of that last moment. He enjoyed showing off his tartan, but it might get cold on the walk home if the ball ended up late. His hat was upon his head, large sized ribbon around the bottom of the hat, leaning against the rim and down his back. He moved his stained hand up, the burgundy jacket he wore had the same lace design over the hand as his blue one had. Only the colours were different. To go with the burgundy, the lace was a bright yellow.

Nothing matched in his appearance, but that was the point. Everything would be as uncoordinated as his mind. Although he had found lately that things had been a little clearer in his thoughts since starting to accept that Alice would never return. His Alice… beautiful Alice… pretty, little… okay so maybe it hadn't stopped being hazy. But he was getting better and that should have been a good enough start. He was hoping that he would find the honouree of this ball and perhaps get that dance. After all, she had gotten a dance with the queen the other night there. It had to have been his turn.

"Hatter!"

The shout of his friend Mallymkun came from nowhere as he looked around for her, then realised, she was on top of his hat! "Yes, Mally?" He asked his eyes directed upwards even though he couldn't see the little mouse. She had been there for the ride when he was walking to the dancehall earlier. He had completely forgotten that she was there. Oh well, he forgot a lot of things anyway, it was nothing new for the Hatter.

"Futterwack?"

He heard her suggestion and chuckled as he shook his head, looking around. Informing the dormouse that this wasn't the place or time for that, as it was quite a busy ball and so many people around them. He could have hurt someone, or himself, although he wasn't something he was actually worried about. The Hatter moved his hand to his hat and moved Mally into his hand and placed her down onto a table and smiled down at her. "Maybe later when it's less crowded."

"Futterwack?" He heard another female voice. He recognised it anywhere and turned to face Marianne. He couldn't help but first notice just how beautiful he looked – she… she looked, she was definitely looking beautiful. She always looked beautiful, but this time she was all dressed up for it. In that dress, a dress fit for a princess, not something he would have expected to see upon a knight. His green eyes looked upon hers. She had her hair tied back, wasn't as nice as it was when it was down. He might have thought that she looked beautiful, but she didn't look as stunning as the white queen looked.

No one ever looked anymore stunning than the queen. After all everyone would fall in love with the queen. Men, women, some people would even say furniture would to. There was once, a past between them, long ago – very long ago, not anymore, no no, not anymore. That would never happen again. He met Alice as a young women and he thought, well he thought that it would only be Alice – but here, the young women before him… Marianne with the raven hair, looking like a princess, even though she was a knight.

There was something about her, even more so now that she was looking so pretty, that made him confused upon why he was feeling so different. He had only ever felt this way for Alice, and well – he was also proud of Marianne. She was finding her muchness and that spark was growing by the day. The answer to her question of what the futterwacken came from was by Mally.

"It's a dance. Don't you know anything?"

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><p>"Mally."<p>

Marianne heard the Hatter scowl at the dormouse before laughing slightly as she looked upon the Hatter who looked as he always looked. She didn't mind that, she admired the quirkiness of his clothing whenever she saw him. This only made a blush appear across her cheeks thinking of such a thing, but she pushed it aside. Was she gaining a crush on his clothes, how stupid! Marianne then recalled that the dance the dormouse and Hatter had been discussing was the dance from her grandmother's stories. The stories were coming back, slowly but surely. She liked the fact she was getting more out of her own adventures than the stories she had once been told of.

"Oh, I know what dance you're talking about. I won't be trying that one anytime soon." Marianne spoke as she remembered something about head and body spinning separately, yes, that didn't sound remotely possible (or comfortable) but it had to be if the Hatter could do so. Then he was different from her, everyone in this world were so different from her though, she had realised. "I can barely waltz." Gaining a laugh from herself Marianne looked around the couples dancing around them as she recalled how she had been dancing with the Cheshire Cat beforehand but he disappeared from her and she couldn't find him so decided he must have gotten bored of her.

She was feeling quite useless anyway. For how could a human dance with a cat? It was quite… uncomfortable and didn't feel like it would have been possible anyway. At least with one thing, when you dance with a floating cat, you don't have to worry about anyone else's feet (or paws in this case) to trip over and end up on the floor with. She just found it pretty rude that Chessur up and left her when they were supposed to be dancing. He had practically begged for her to dance with him. In the best way he could anyway.

Marianne watched the Hatter as he moved forward as if he was going to say something to her. She got her hopes up that perhaps he was going to ask her to dance. That was when she noticed the thin mist of pale green and blue twist in between them and soon she was face to face with Chessur. She had just been thinking of him, how funny, he must have been stalking her once again. **"You ditched me." **As the cat fully appeared Marianne raised her eyebrow and corrected him. "Actually, you ditched me. Remember." He shook his head, whiskers brushed against her cheek because he was so close to her and she half closed her eye slightly at the weird texture. **"Then I still owe you a dance." **She never got a chance to say anything as soon she was being dragged away once more.

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><p>That… that foolish, hasty, arrogant, smug, haughty, self-righteous, smarmy cat! He had seen just how the Hatter had started to ask Marianne to dance with him. The cat had decided to take her off and it was just filling the Hatter with jealously. How dare he take Marianne to dance? Wait, jealous, no… he wasn't jealous of the cat, he wasn't jealous at all! Why would he be jealous, he might have wanted to dance with Marianne, but why not, probably everyone here wanted to dance with the heroine of the hour!<p>

The Hatter clenched his fist as he watched as Marianne had been pulled away and amongst all of the dancing couples looked so out of place because the fat, aggravating git floated around, upside town, twirling, disappearing and reappearing from one side of Marianne to the other. The women obviously didn't know what to do. Wait that was the first time he had upgraded Marianne in his thoughts from a girl to a woman. That was… something. She was a woman, she wasn't a girl. She was young still yes, but she was womanly, she had curves, beautiful curves… wait the thoughts in his mind was getting out of control there and came from nowhere!

The cat got what he wanted. He had aggravated and irritated the Hatter to no end. He didn't even know what his own feelings for Marianne were yet, and the cat had seemed to have noticed before him! He moved over, clearing his throat, his hand moving to her arm. She turned to him and smiled. He liked that smile, a pretty smile, slightly like Alice's smile, she had Alice's lips too – lips made for speaking, made for kissing, they had kissed his cheek once… his cheeks turned a pale shade of pink. The cat reappeared beside him, paws reaching for the hat.

"Ge' off, ye stupid cat!"

The cat disappeared and the Hatter scanned around looking for where it had disappeared to. He couldn't see him – didn't matter, he had gotten a laugh from Mally who was shaking her tiny head. He closed his eyes calming down suddenly feeling nervous as he removed his hand from Marianne's arm and felt himself nervous. This was all new to him – well it wasn't, he had danced with the queen before but this wasn't the queen, this was Marianne – this was Alice's granddaughter, this was their champion, Alice the champion of… wait, no Marianne the champion of Underland.

"W-Would ye… you… would you like to dance, Mary…" He asked, stopping himself as he had used an abbreviated version of her name without permission. Wondering why he had done that, he had heard her talking to herself and calling her that. He didn't make it seem like an accident though. "…Anne." He spoke, as if he had just droned off before the rest of her name before she smiled saying that he could call her Mary, she preferred being called that. "Mary."

"I wouldn't want to show you up, Hatter… I can't."

He looked at her with a hidden sadness that she was rejecting his offer, but then there was more. She sounded… she just sounded so much like Alice when she had said that she couldn't stay with him in Underland and had to return. It was almost as if he had closed his eyes and Alice would have been standing there and not Marianne. It was most likely her, what was that word, advent… no, that wasn't it, close though, um, ascent… accent. ACCENT! That was it; it was most likely her accent. She sounded like Alice because of her accent. Her voice was soft like Alice's, but it was just the accent, she couldn't sound exactly like her.

Snapping out of his thoughts he shook his head. "That answer won't do at all." The Hatter spoke moving his hand to her arm and pulling her around to a more of a clearer space. For someone who danced the best futterwacken in all of Marmoreal, he of course loved to dance. He loved every single type of dancing, even if some of them made him look silly. He didn't care if she felt she would embarrass herself, if she fell over – he most likely would have laughed. How that was mean of him, imagine laughing at someone who might fall over. But it was good to laugh at yourself… you had to be able to laugh at yourself. The Hatter laughed at himself a lot of times.

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><p>"B-But." She was growing more frustrated, it was stupid to be getting so worked up over something as trivial as dancing. "Oh… Fine!" She spoke, laughing as her eyes looked up at the Hatter. "You win." He gave her a chuckle as she felt him pull her in closer, but their bodies did not touch. He moved his hand from her arm and into hers, as she placed her hand onto his shoulder. She hated these social dance routines, but something told her this would most likely be anything but a conventional routine. Nothing would be reined in or strict about it – not like she had seen in the parties in England.<p>

And she was right, he swung her around wildly as she expressed a laugh, trying to watch her footing and she couldn't just get it right, he was leading her in such a way she had never danced in before. It was most certainly different from dancing by herself in her bedroom that was for sure. "C-Caref-" She cut herself off, shaking her head. "Forget it." She smiled as she did let herself relax and just enjoy herself, this was a ball in her honour and she was dancing with the Hatter of all men in Marmoreal she could have been dancing with.

This was so much different than dancing with Mirana. When she danced with the queen, the queen was just showing her how anyone could dance in Underland. She looked around and noticed that she was right – no one was dancing a traditional waltz apart from Mirana who had been whisked off of her feet, not literally, by a suitor, one of the knight's actually, if she recalled correctly. Her eyes met the Hatter's once more as he spun her out wildly once more. Then what she had been dreading happened, she lost her footing and ended up to the floor. He managed to stop her falling all the way down though as she blinked.

Lost in thought for a few minutes she thought of how stupid that was. How she must have looked. How embarrassing tripping over the Hatter's tan boot must have been. What expressed from her lips shocked her more than actually nearly falling though. She laughed. She was actually laughing at what she was dreading over doing. "That was… so much fun." She spoke, moving up to look at the Hatter, smiling as she moved herself up properly. She had never been so… self-humiliated, when she found out no one else but the Hatter and her had even noticed, now she felt stupid. "Sorry."

"I told you that you could dance." She shook her head at the Hatter trying to amuse her. "You can." He nodded his head, his hand going upon his hat to place it securely back upon his head. Marianne smiled as he was becoming more adamant in the fact she could dance. "We'll just say you meant to fall. No one will ever know the truth." Marianne laughed getting off of her knees as she nodded her head and brushed down the dress. "We'll call it the Marianne descent into madness." Oh dear… she wasn't sure if she liked the idea of that. But… perhaps that was what all of this had been. Maybe, just maybe this adventure was her descent into madness after all.

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><p>Author's Note: I'm sorry it took me so long to write this chapter. In fact, I've had it written for a while but I've been scared to post it as I'm not so sure how well I am at Alice in Wonderland anymore. I finally came to the decision and I love this story too much to let real life issues conflict with it. I'm also developing plans for another Alice in Wonderland non-Halice fic - only this time there's no Original Characters so... It might be interesting to see where that goes. As always thanks for the reviews and story alerts and favourites. Every single one is appreciated!<p> 


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